The Water Dragon
by Tang Ri Shan
Summary: Zorra is the 'Water Dragon', the only waterbending soldier to serve in the Fire Nation Army. Her mother was a water tribe prisoner who rejected her, her father was a soldier who risked his life to save her. It's clear where Zorra's loyalty lies, until she is assigned as an aide to Prince Zuko in his search for the Avatar, which soon causes her to begin questioning...everything.
1. Prologue- Opening

_Tang Ri Shan_

**The Water Dragon**

**Prologue**

_Water. Earth. Fire. Air. In ancient times, humans learned how to 'bend', or control, the four elements, and used this power to construct four great civilizations, the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. For generations, harmony between these four nations was maintained by the Avatar, the only person who could master all four bending elements. However, this harmony came at a price, for the Avatar had decreed that, in order to maintain balance, the four nations needed to remain separate, their joys and sorrows remaining theirs, and their alone, to bear. But while three of the nations were content with this, the Fire Nation was not. They had seen the burdens that the other nations had to deal with, and wanted to share the bounty that they had, with the rest of the world. But the other nations did not understand, and the result, was war. One hundred years later, the Air Nomads have been defeated, the Water Tribes isolated from each other, and the Earth Kingdom is under occupation, and yet, the war still rages on, seemingly without end. But, two years ago, the spirit of the Avatar, who vanished shortly after the war began, appeared to me in a dream, with a message, "Only a Dragon of Water, will be able to fully quench the Fires of War". I now realize that it is **my** destiny to bring about the end of this war. My name is Zorra, the only waterbender to serve in the Fire Nation Army. I am the Water Dragon, and this, is my story._

* * *

**And Cut!**

**This story idea has been on the backburner in my head for about a year now. I drew inspiration for this from a number of Avatar fanfiction stories that I've bene finding online. There's some really great work out there! I am so envious of these guys who have the time, motivation, or even the willpower, to crank out such fine works of fiction! **

**Anyway, my story will be set in the ****Last Airbender universe, featuring my Avatar OC, a waterbender named Zorra who was born in the Fire Nation and is serving in the military under Commander Zhao. By some chance, she is reassigned to serve under General Iroh as he and Prince Zuko chase after the Avatar. What will happen when you put a feisty waterbending soldier on the same ship with a hot-tempered firebending prince?**

**If you want to see this story written, please let me know by responding and letting me know what you think. Seriously, the more reviews I get, the more likely thsi story will take wing! **

**Until Next Time! **


	2. Chapter 1- The Agni Kai

_Tang Ri Shan_

**The Water Dragon**

**Chapter 1: The Agni Kai**

I narrowed my eyes as I gazed at my opponent. I forced myself to remain calm, my breathing controlled as I prepared myself for his imminent attack.

For a moment, there was silence, then the earth rumbled as a slab of stone suddenly shot upwards out of the ground and flew towards me.

Waiting for the right moment, I leapt up, twisting in midair so that the slab passed directly beneath me.

Landing lightly on my feet, I raced towards my opponent, keeping myself low.

My opponent, seeing me coming, levitated a block of Earth and shot it at me.

I dove downwards so the block passed over me, and leapt to my feet, just in time to see a second block shooting at me.

There was no time to avoid it, I heard an 'oof' escape my lips as the block knocked me off my feet.

Gritting my teeth, I flipped to land in a crouch before bringing my arms behind me and sweeping them out again, drawing water from the twin skins strapped to my back. Compressing the water into a bullet shape, I fired my projectile at my opponent, who raised an Earthen shield to block it, as I had predicted.

Using the shield as cover, I raced towards my opponent, drawing water from my skins again. As my water bullet smashed against the Earth shield, I shot the water I was currently holding forward to form a sort of ice ramp. I leapt onto the ramp and used it as a springboard to jump again. As my opponent's shield came down, I concentrated while in midair, drawing as much water from my surroundings as I could.

I saw my opponent look around as he tried to find where I had gone, then he saw the ramp and looked up. I saw his jaw drop as he saw me above him and shot him a sweet smile before thrusting my hands forward, fingers outstretched, causing the water to shoot forward in multiple water whips.

I saw panic flash on my opponent's face as he quickly raised an Earth shelter to defend against the whips. Scarcely had I landed on top of the Earth shelter, however, when it suddenly exploded outwards, catching me by surprise. I flew through the air to land hard on my side, cursing myself for not guessing that my opponent would adapt to the fact that he couldn't see me while using such shields to protect himself.

Pumping my legs, I leapt to my feet just in time to see my opponent grinning smugly as he performed a quick series of movements that levitated several large rocks out of the ground and launched them at me in quick succession.

I felt panic flare up in my chest as I saw the earthen projectiles rush at me and forced myself to remain calm. Focusing my energy, I drew water up from the ice ramp, and my skins, around me and gathered it around my hands and arms. Though my mind screamed at me not to, I charged forward to meet the rocks head on.

As the first one approached me, I whirled my arms, willing the water on my arms to form a pair of sharp blades, which sliced through the thick rock. I cut through one, then two, then three rocks, to find myself facing my opponent, who had a look of disbelief on his face.

Compressing the water into a pair of whips, I lashed out at my opponent, who responded by stamping and thrusting his arms towards the sky, causing a column of earth to lift up, carrying him out of the path of my whips, or so he thought.

Smirking at his mistake, I willed the water on my whips to form sharp edges again, slicing through the earth column, causing the structure to come off its base. I hears my opponent cry out in alarm as he struggled to keep his balance on top of the column. Not giving him a chance to recover, I formed an ice hook at the end of a water whip. Shooting the hook up, I watched it bury itself near the top of the column, then allowed the water to pull me up the structure to where my opponent was standing, while at the same time, using my other whip to lash out at him, keeping him occupied while I snuck up on him.

My opponent, so focused on blocking my water whip, didn't see me coming until I was practically on top of him. His eyes widened as I crashed into him, knocking him off his pillar with a satisfying 'oof'.

As we fell, I focused and reached out to encase both his hands in water, which I then froze, forming a pair of ice cuffs, trapping his hands.

My opponent, realizing what I had done, scowled at me, but there was nothing he could as he landed on his back and I landed on top of him, shooting my hands forward, forming ice claws that paused an inch from his eyes. To his credit, he didn't blink.

"I win" I smiled in victory.

"Fine. I yield" He said reluctantly. My smile widened and I hopped off of him, unfreezing his hands with a wave of my own.

"Agni, I almost had you that time, Zorra" He groaned as I waved my hands around, drawing water from the ground, and him, back into my water skins.

"Yeah, you **almost** did, Zheng" I aid teasingly as I helped him to his feet, giggling a little at the dark look he sent me. "Seriously though, you were pretty close, and I liked how you made the shelter explode outwards, it made up for the fact you couldn't see where I was."

"Yeah, well, since I can't actually _see_ through earth, not being able to tell where my opponent is was a disadvantage." Zheng nodded in agreement. "By the way, nice work on the multiple water whips, is that a new technique?"

"Kind of" I shrugged my shoulders. "It's based off the octopus technique I learned from that scroll the commander gave us. I've been practicing on my own for months."

"Well, it certainly paid off now" Zheng admitted, causing me to smile at him.

"Ahem" The two of us paused when we heard a voice. We turned to see a soldier standing behind us, looking rather edgy.

I schooled my face into an annoyed expression. "Yes, what is it?" I barked in an angry tone that made the soldier jump.

I felt Zheng subtly nudge me as I fought to hide my smirk at the soldiers' barely-disguised fear. This man was clearly a new recruit, or maybe he had witnessed our sparring session, or maybe both.

As the only Waterbender in the Fire Nation Army, I had made quite a reputation for myself. In addition to my skill at manipulating water, I also had a secret trick that only I could do. I could make water boil, just by concentrating. According to Commander Zhao, this was a skill that even a waterbending master could not do. Waterbenders could freeze water, thaw it, and move it around, but they couldn't heat it without help. It wasn't firebending, but it was close enough, and I had used this ability to create a unique waterbending style that I called Water Dragon Style, which had made some soldiers start calling me the 'Water Dragon' and the name had stuck. I had been honored, especially seeing as how the only way to earn the name 'dragon', up until now, was to kill an actual dragon and, as far as I knew, they were extinct.

Zheng, my brother, was in a similar situation to mine, being one of only a handful of Earthbenders who willingly supported the Fire Nation, and he was the most powerful of them. So powerful, that he had the ability to create lava, _real lava,_ a skill that even the greatest Earthbenders had, to our knowledge, been unable to replicate. This skill, combined with his physical strength, had earned him the title of 'Lava Bear'.

Recovering, the soldier bowed to me, then Zheng. "Um...C...Commander Zhao has requested the presence of the W...Water Dragon and the Lava B...Bear in his tent, right...right away" He stammered, and I had to fight to hide the smirk that was threatening to erupt on my face. "He...he also said to be...be discrete"

Zheng and I exchanged a glance before we turned back to the recruit. "Tell Commander Zhao we will be there in five minutes" Zheng said, his face expressionless, but I could see the humor dancing in his eyes.

"Yes, yes of course" The soldier bowed to Zheng, but he didn't leave right away. He just stood there, gazing at us.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. "Well? What are you waiting for? Go!" I ordered loudly and sternly, making the soldier jump again as I pointed towards the entrance to the sparring arena. Muttering an apology, the soldier bowed to me again and all but fell over in his haste to get away, which made me chuckle.

The moment that the soldier was out of sight, Zheng and I burst out laughing.

"Did you see the look on his face?" I giggled. "I thought that guy was gonna pee his pants!"

"And that, dear sister, is why you will never have a boyfriend" Zheng teased as we started walking in the same direction the soldier had gone.

"And what, dear brother, makes you think I _want_ one? I fired back with a smirk. "There are too many _men_ in my life already"

Zhang laughed and I smiled as we left the sparring arena and headed towards our private tents.

Ducking into mine, I quickly swapped my sparring clothes for a red undershirt and matching leggings. Over this I slipped on a black tunic with gold lining, secured with a gold belt, and light black armor over my shoulders, chest, arms, and legs. I pulled on my boots that curled up at the toe before stepping up to my mirror and washbasin. I washed my face and put part of my long black hair up in a small topknot, which I secured with a red hairpiece. Then I opened a hidden drawer in my mirror, I pulled out a small case, which I opened to reveal a pair of small colored red lenses set into a fluid. Opening my eyes wide, I applied the first contact to my left eye, and blinked slowly, getting used to the feeling. Then I repeated the process with the other eye.

After my vision had adjusted, I looked down and examined my appearance in the mirror. The colored lenses had turned my ice blue eyes golden brown. I smiled at my reflection before pulling a small makeup case out of the drawer. Using the mirror as a guide, I applied makeup to my face and hands, lightening the tone of my skin to match that of someone who was natively from the Fire Nation. Technically my natural skin tone was a match for people who lived in the more rural areas of the Fire Nation, but I always used makeup whenever I was ordered to 'be discrete'.

Examining my appearance in the mirror, I nodded in satisfaction before exiting my tent to find my brother waiting for me, wearing a uniform similar to mine. He had also used makeup on his face and hands, though not as much as I had, and he hadn't needed to change his eye color.

"About time, what kept you?" Zheng joked.

I snorted in amusement "Sorry, I had to fix my face" I said jokingly, making Zheng groan as we set out towards the commander's tent.

As we walked, I looked around, relishing in where we were. To our right, a row of enormous Fire Nation cruisers stretched along the docks. To our left, a sea of tents spread out almost to the distance in a large field, housing the large array of soldiers, both bending and non-bending, that our commander had put together. As we passed by one tent that was open, I heard the voice of a soldier regaling a group of his comrades on a skirmish that had recently occurred with an Earth Kingdom battalion. As I had been involved in helping end that particular skirmish, I paused to listen to the story.

"…And then the Earthbenders had us surrounded." The soldier said in a dramatic voice, and I chuckled. "I thought my time had come. I said to myself, 'Father, I will see you soon', and then, _she_ appeared. The Water Dragon!"

I felt a smirk cross my face at the sounds of awe and disbelief from the other soldiers. This guy was a great storyteller.

"I'm serious! She took out all the earthbenders without even breaking a sweat!" The soldier said. "She was incredible! She did stuff with water that I didn't even know was possible! She is one of the most powerful benders I have ever seen and I told her so!"

Okay, now I _knew_ he was exaggerating. Compared to my spar with Zheng just now, what I had did to rescue those soldiers was nothing incredible. A few boiling water whips, a cloud of mist to act as cover, and that was it. And even if that wasn't the case, he was _definitly_ lying about telling me this, because I didn't recognize his face at all, and I have a pretty good memory.

"Did you..._actually_ speak with her?" One of the soldiers asked, sounding skeptical.

"Oh yes, of course. We actually go way back, you see" The soldier bragged, to loud guffaws from his friends.

_Liar!_ I thought, making a face. But none of the soldiers looked up or even noticed I was there, which I had expected would be the case.

This is what it meant to 'be discreet'. Even though our abilities had made Zheng and me infamous in the Fire Nation Army, Commander Zhao felt that our reputations could be a hinderance at times, so he trained both of us in the art of deception and subterfuge. When he gave the order to 'be discreet', the two of us would alter our appearances to resemble Fire Nation Soldiers and the Water Dragon and Lava Bear would disappear. We had learned to only use our abilities when they were needed, like for sparring, and for combat. In fact, the commander didn't like us going into the field that much, preferring to save us for emergencies or for really serious battles. He called us his 'secret weapons', but I personally think it was his way of keeping us close.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that Commander Zhao was so protective of Zheng and I, considering he had helped raise and train the two of us. But sometimes I wished I could see more action, something I had been bugging the Commander for a white about now, to his annoyance, but I couldn't help it. I was restless, far more so than my brother, mainly because I knew it was my destiny to end this war. The spirit of Avatar Roku had practically _told_ me this, even though he hadn't used those _exact_ words.

I felt a tap on my shoulder bringing me out of my trance and turned to see Zheng smiling at me. "Come on, we can't keep Commander Zhao waiting." He reminded me.

"Fine" Reluctantly, I left the gossiping soldiers and followed Zheng towards the commander's tent. However, my attention was soon caught again, this time by something in the harbor.

"Hey, look at that" I paused and pointed to a ship that was easing its way into an empty dock. It was small, much smaller than the cruisers on either side of it, clearly an older design. It was also rather battered, as if it has seen action recently.

"That's not one of ours, is it?" asked Zheng.

"I don't think so" I shook my head. "Looks like an older model"

"Huh, maybe it has something to do with why the commander has summoned us" Zheng suggested as we resumed walking.

"Maybe" I mused, but I was getting a strange feeling in my gut, something I couldn't explain.

We soon arrived at the commander's tent. Zheng told the two firebending guards stationed at the entrance that the commander was expecting us and we were allowed to enter.

Inside, we found Commander Zhao gazing upon a map of the world, his hands clasped neatly behind him, his back to us.

"Commander Zhao" we said and bowed unanimously.

Zhao did not turn around, but I knew he had heard us "I trust the two of you have seen the ship that is arriving in port" He said.

"We have, sir." I could almost hear the smile in Zheng's voice and resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "We were actually discussing it on our way over"

"That ship is carrying very special guests." Zhao said as he turned around. "The Fire Lord's brother and son"

My eyes widened at this. General Iroh, and Prince Zuko? What were _they_ doing _here_? Last I had heard, the prince had been banished by his father for disrespecting his nation and had been sent on a quest to locate and capture the Avatar and his uncle, the Dragon of the West, had gone with him. This had been shortly after I had received my vision of Avatar Roku, two years ago.

"The three of us are going to go meet them now. While Zorra and I are keeping them busy, Zheng, I want you to question the ship's crew. I want to know what that ship is doing here and why. If you find anything of note, report it to me immediately."

"Yes Commander" Zheng nodded, and I mentally sighed. Whenever Zhao had company, I would often play hostess for them, smiling at them, pouring tea for them, while Zheng 'questioned' the crew of the official that was visiting. This ploy had worked numerous times with visiting officials, and allowed Zhao to stay one step ahead of the other commanders.

Looking satisfied, Zhao strolled out of the tent, with us falling into step behind him, and made his way down to the docks.

As we approached the small ship, I could see two people wearing Fire Nation uniforms standing in front of it, discussing in low voices. One was shorter and squat with white hair and a beard. The other was taller and younger-looking, with a large scar covering part of his face.

As we approached, the younger man's voice carried over to us.

"Don't mention his name on these docks! Once word gets out that he's alive, every Firebender will be out looking for him, and I don't want anyone getting in the way!"

Commander Zhao chose this point to make his presence known. "Getting in the way of what, Prince Zuko?"

The shorter man looked up while the prince whirled around. His amber eyes narrowed. "Captain Zhao" The dislike in his voice was obvious.

"It's Commander now" Zhao corrected him. "And General Iroh, great hero of our nation" He turned to the shorter man and bowed.

"Retired General" The old man replied, bowing back. Then his gaze landed on Zheng and me and he raised an eyebrow.

"My bodyguard and aide, Zheng, and Zorra." Zhao said, motioning to my brother, then to me.

"Welcome General Iroh, and welcome Prince Zuko" Zheng said, bowing to each in turn.

"It is an honor to have you both with us" I said, mimicking the gesture.

"The honor is ours" General Iroh bowed to us, and I worked to keep my face blank. I had heard rumors that the Dragon of the West was a very polite and well-mannered man. I could see now that the rumors were more than true. "Zuko" General Iroh turned to the Prince, who was scowling at all of us. "Do not be rude" Though the man's expression did not change, I detected a sudden firmness in the man's voice.

Zuko narrowed his eyes at his uncle, but finally he forced a small bow in Zhao's direction.

"The Fire Lord's brother and son are welcome guests anytime"' Zhao said, his words sounding sweet, but I could sense the forcefulness behind them. "What brings you to my harbor?"

"Our ship is being repaired" General Iroh answered, motioning with an outstretched hand to the ship behind him.

Now that we were closer to the ship, I could see that the damage I had observed before was, in fact, a lot more extensive and found myself wondering what in the world could have caused damage of _that_ extent. I snuck a glance at Zheng and saw one of his eyebrows creep up. Clearly, he was wondering the same thing.

"That's quite a bit of damage" Zhao commented, like it wasn't obvious.

"Yes" Prince Zuko turned back to us, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "You wouldn't believe what happened" He paused for a moment, then turned to General Iroh. "Uncle, tell Commander Zhao what happened!"

Clearly caught off guard, the old man spluttered for a moment before quickly recovering. "Oh..um…yes. I will do that" He raised his hand up enthusiastically, a happy expression on his face. "It was incredible…" He started to say and I braced myself for what was sure to be a great story. Then the general paused and leaned closer to his nephew. "What, did we crash or something?" He asked quietly.

Now the Prince looked uncomfortable. "Yes uncle, remember? We crashed...right into…an Earth Kingdom ship"

"Oh yes…right. That is exactly what happened" General Iroh said quickly, giving us a big grin.

Now I felt one of my eyebrows creep up. What kind of story was _that_? I glanced at Zheng and met is eye, which mirrored my own disbelief. These two were _clearly_ hiding something.

"Really?" Zhao sounded as unconvinced as Zheng and I felt. "You _must_ regale me with all the _thrilling_ details" He said before leaning closer to Zuko, a predatory grin on his face. "Join me for a drink?"

From the look on the Prince's face, that was the _last_ thing he wanted to do. "Sorry, but we have to go" He said before turning away.

As the prince started to walk away, General Iroh caught his sholder. "Prince Zuko. Show Commander Zhao your respect" He scolded gently before turning back to Zhao. "We would be honored to join you"

"Good" Zhao said before turning to my brother. "Find out what repairs need to be made on Prince Zuko's ship, and begin repair work at once" He ordered.

"Yes Commander" Zheng said, bowing before heading past the two men. I saw an uneasy expression appear on the prince's face as his gaze followed my brother.

"Do you have any Ginseng tea? It's my favorite." General Iroh asked, stepping forward.

That was my cue. "I would be happy to brew some for you, General Iroh" I purred, hitching a smile on my face as I fell into step beside the general.

The general's eyes lit up. "Would you? That would be wonderful, my dear. Thank you!"

I heard an annoyed snort from the prince behind me and fought to keep from smiling.

The prince fumed all the way back to the command tent. Upon entering, I showed Prince Zuko to a seat, though he refused to even look at me. General Iroh wandered over to a rack of weapons and began to examine them, while Commander Zhao stood in front of the map he had been studying earlier.

I started to brew tea, using spark rocks to light the fire, then I prepared the mixture and set the pot over the fire to boil. Then, making certain that neither Zuko nor Iroh were watching, I extended one hand and slowly made a fist. Almost immediately, steam began to seep out from the spout of the teapot as I made the water boil. In truth, I didn't even need the fire to boil tea, however, since we had company, and I was posing as just another soldier, I had to keep up appearances.

"We've made significant gains in the Earth Kingdom" Commander Zhao had begun speaking as I monitored the teapot. "Our forces here are as strong as they have ever been. Skirmishes with Earth Kingdom forces have been low, and the engagements we have been in have been favorable to us far more the enemy, thanks to the resourcefulness of our troops. Our forces continue to press their advance, and by years end, the Earth Kingdom capital will be under our rule." Zhao turned to face us. "The Fire Nation will finally claim victory in this war."

I hid a smirk as I took the teapot off the fire. Zhao liked to exaggerate in his reports. In truth the war between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom was far from decided. True, we had numbers, but the Earthbenders had the terrain on their side, and they had begun resorting to hit-and-run tactics that were starting to leave us spread thin. At this point, from what I could see, we were pretty much at a stalemate, though I didn't bring that up around the Commander.

As I poured the tea into three cups, Zuko looked up from where he was sitting, his face a mask of anger and annoyance. "If my father thinks the rest of the world will follow him willingly, than he is a fool!" He snarled.

I paused, my eyes widening a little. It was rare for a member of the Fire Nation to show such open disrespect and aggression towards the Fire Lord, especially in the presence of a military commander but then again, Prince Zuko had been banished by the Fire Lord, so I suppose he had nothing to lose by being honest.

Zhao went to sit next to Zuko, a smirk on his face. "I see that two years at sea have done little to temper your tongue"

I set a teacup in front of Zhao, one in front of Zuko, and one in front of an empty chair where Iroh was going to sit and stepped backwards, my eyes flickering from one person to another.

Zhao took a sip of his tea, then turned to Zuko. "So tell me, how is your search for the Avatar going?" He asked in a somewhat mocking tone.

A loud crash made us look up to see that the weapons rack that Iroh had been examining had fallen over. Iroh had jumped away, cringing at the noise and wreckage he had caused. Upon seeing everyone looking at him, he grimaced and said "My fault, entirely" before backing away.

"We haven't found him yet" Zuko replied, his voice bitter, but felt my eyes narrow in suspicion, there was something...else about the prince. Something...guarded.

"Did you really expect to?" Zhao scoffed. "The Avatar died a hundred years ago, along with the rest of the Airbenders"

As Zhao spoke, I saw the prince's gaze shift to the floor and paused. There it was again! That uneasy air, the prince definitely knew_ something_ he wasn't telling.

Zhao must have noticed too, because his face slowly morphed into an expression of smugness. "Unless...you've discovered some...evidence that the Avatar...is alive" He probed.

Zuko looked Zhao in the eye. "No" He said before looking away. "Nothing"

Zhao was silent for a moment, then, to my surprise, he turned to look at me. "Zorra, didn't you tell me that you received a vision of the Avatar two years ago?" He asked.

I blinked as everyone looked at me, not quite sure why Zhao was bringing this up. "Um...yes, Commander I did, but it was of Avatar Roku, not his successor."

"Really?" Iroh asked as he wandered over to the table. "How interesting" He mused, looking strangely thoughtful.

"And do you believe that the current Avatar may still be alive?" Zhao asked, and suddenly I realized what the Commander was up to. He was trying to get the prince to slip up by having me call him out, rather than do it himself.

"Well..." I paused when I saw a flash of fear appear in Zuko's eye. For a second, I felt strangely guilty, but I pushed it down. I had orders to follow. "I do not know if the Avatar is alive or not, Commander Zhao, but..." I paused and met the Prince's gaze. "Based on how the prince was acting just now, I do believe he knows _something_ he does not wish to share"

Prince Zuko sat stock still in his chair, his amber eyes blazing anger at me. I returned his gaze, calm and cool, like water. Time seemed to stand still for a minute.

I saw Zhao send me a pleased smirk before getting to his feet. "Prince Zuko, the Avatar is the only person who can stop the Fire Nation from winning this war." He urged, leaning forward until he and Zuko were face to face. "If you have an_ ounce_ of loyalty left to your country, you will tell me what you've found."

"I haven't found anything" The Prince replied. His voice was clear and calm and this time he looked Zhao directly in the eye. "It's like you said, the Avatar probably died a long time ago" He got to his feet. "Come on Uncle, we're gong!" He called as he headed for the tent entrance, only to be stopped by the two guards on duty, crossing their spears to bar his path.

I smiled as I refilled Zhao's teacup. I had seen enough of these meetings to know that Zhao never let something go until he was completely satisfied, and based on the way Zuko was acting, I suspected the prince wasn't going to be leaving this tent any time soon.

The rustling of the tent flap made me look up to see Zheng enter, a strangely solemn look on his face.

I tensed. I knew that look. Whatever news Zheng had, it must be important.

"Commander Zhao" Zheng spoke up. "I interrogated Zuko's crew, as you ordered. They confirmed that Prince Zuko had the Avatar in custody, but allowed him to escape."

My eyes widened in surprise and I looked at Zhao, whose face bore a look of savage triumph

"Now, remind me." He said as he stalked towards Prince Zuko "How _exactly_ was your ship damaged?" Zhao leaned forward to speak softly into the prince's ear, but somehow the whole room managed to hear the words.

As Zuko's head seemed to slump in defeat, Zhao turned to Zheng.

"How did it happen?" He asked.

"Apparently they found the Avatar hiding with the remnants of the Southern Water Tribe. He surrendered himself to protect the tribe, but later escaped with the aid of a flying bison, a water tribe warrior, and…" Zheng's gaze flickered to me before returning to Zhao. "…a waterbender"

My jaw dropped. A waterbender? I thought the Southern Water Tribe no longer had any of those!

"So, you had, not only the Avatar, but possibly the last waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe in your grasp, and you let _both_ of them slip away." Zhao sneered at Zuko. "You're even more pathetic than I thought, letting an old man and a teenager best you"

"Actually sir, that is not quite accurate" Zheng spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Zhao turned to look at my brother, who looked a little unsure of himself.

"Based on the crew's description of the Avatar, I would estimate him to be...no older than twelve." Zheng said.

"What?" I was unable to stop the gasp that escaped my lips. Zuko and Iroh looked at me in confusion and I bowed my head.

"So, it's a new Avatar, then" Zhao reasoned. I saw General Iroh move to sit down and headed over to him with a fresh cup of hot tea.

Zheng shook his head as Iroh thanked me. "Doubtful. The boy was dressed in Air Nomad garb, complete with arrow tattoos, and his preferred element appeared to be air. He only used waterbending when he fell off the ship, and he didn't use Earth or Firebending at all"

"But...that doesn't make any sense" I spoke up. "How could the Avatar have lived for over a hundred years, and still be so young?"

"I don't know" Zhao looked thoughtful for a moment, then he turned to look at Zuko, who had, by this point, been ushered back to his seat by the guards, who now stood at attention behind him. "I don't suppose _you_ have any answers to this, Prince Zuko?" He asked.

The Prince remained silent, pouting as he stared at the floor.

"No? Well, I guess I should expect as much" Zhao said mockingly. "After all, if you allowed a twelve year old boy to best you and your firebenders, then you are clearly not adept enough to process deeper mysteries like this one" _That_ got Zuko attention.

"I underestimated him once, Commander, but it will not happen again!" The Prince exclaimed angrily, and I paused, caught by the fire that seemed to be smoldering in the prince's eyes. For some reason, I found it _very_ hard to look away from him.

"No, you will not, because you won't get a second chance." Said Zhao.

For a moment, there was silence, then the prince leapt his feet. "Commander Zhao! I've been hunting the Avatar for two years, and I…"

"And you failed!" Zhao cut him off, whirling around, an arc of fire cascading from his hand. "Capturing the Avatar is too important a task to leave in a teenager's hands. He's mine now"

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Leave it to Commander Zhao to try to gain personal glory off of another person's goals. It was one of the commander's…less admirable traits.

With an angry roar, Prince Zuko suddenly leapt out of his chair and lunged for Zhao. I darted backwards, reaching out with my power towards the nearest sources of water available, ready to protect my commander, but my training kicked in and I froze, not wanting to reveal my abilities unless I had to.

Fortunately, the two guards behind Zuko managed to grab and restrain him before I needed to do anything.

"Keep them here" Zhao said, not even flinching at the prince's actions.

"Yes Commander" Zheng confirmed and we both bowed as Zhao left the tent.

I heard Zuko breathing heavily and glanced up to see him glaring after Zhao. Suddenly, lashed out with his foot, kicking over the table and sending the teapot and the cups flying.

I bit my lip to hold back a gasp of outrage as the teapot shattered on the ground. That was my favorite teapot!

"More tea please" Iroh looked at me expectantly.

"Yes General, right away" I said, trying to keep my face as expressionless as possible, but my voice was still tight with anger and I got a sympathetic look from Zheng as I left the tent.

My search for a new teapot and cups to replace the ones that bratty prince had broken took longer than expected. By the time I got back to the tent with a newly filled pot and cups, I saw that Commander Zhao had already returned.

"My search party is ready" I heard Zhao telling Zuko and Iroh as I entered. I saw, to my satisfaction, that Zuko and Iroh were both sitting in chairs in the center of the tent, closely monitored by Zheng and the other guards. "Once I'm out to sea, my guards will escort you back to your ship, and you'll be free to go"

"Why?" Zuko growled from his chair. "Are you worried I'll try and stop you?"

I raised an eyebrow at this. How did Zuko honestly expect to stop someone as powerful as Zhao?

Zhao started to laugh. "You? Stop me?" He said incredulously. "Impossible"

Zuko suddenly leapt to his feet, his eyes flashing. "Do not underestimate me, Zhao. I _will_ capture the Avatar before you!" Zuko vowed.

"Prince Zuko, that's enough!" General Iroh cautioned, getting to his feet as well.

Zhao snorted, his gaze never leaving the prince's face. "You cannot hope to compete with me. I have hundreds of warships under my command, crewed by some of the best soldiers and benders in the world"

"You think that changes anything?" Zuko snarled.

An amused smirk appeared on Zhao's face. "I'd say it certainly gives me an advantage." He answered, holding his hands out, then motioning to Zuko. "I have all this, and you, you're just a banished prince, no home, no allies, your own father doesn't even want you"

I felt the corner of my mouth curve down into a frown. That was a low blow, even for Commander Zhao. I fought the urge to wince as an angry face from my past flashed through my mind, a face that looked a lot like mine. I saw Zheng bite his lip behind the Commander's back and shot him a sympathetic glance, which he returned.

"You're wrong!" Zuko argued, and I could hear the pain in his voice, though the young Prince tried to hide it. "Once I deliver the Avatar to my father, he will welcome me home with honor, and restore my rightful place on the throne"

"Is that so?" Zhao raised an eyebrow as he spoke. "I think that if your father really wanted you home, he would have let you return by now, Avatar, or no Avatar. But in his eyes, you are a failure, and a disgrace to the Fire Nation"

I saw the prince's hands clench into fists and felt myself tense. While everything Commander Zhao was saying was, technically, correct, that didn't make it any less painful, and from what I could see of Prince Zuko, he was not a person to let an insult like that slide. This could get ugly, fast.

"That's not true" Zuko insisted, the pain in his voice becoming sharper. I caught Zheng's eye and he nodded. Silently, he assumed a stance behind Iroh's chair, while I focused on the tea in the pot I held in my hands, waiting to unleash it if the prince tried something.

"You have the scar to prove it" Zhao's smirk turned malicious as he went for the core of the Prince's shame.

With an angry roar, Zuko darted forward until his face was inches from Zhao's. Narrowing my eyes in concentration, I began to subtly move the tea in the pot, heating it up as I did so, though I didn't call it out yet. Instead, I pointed the spout towards the angry prince, ready to spray him with hot water...er...tea if he attacked.

"Maybe you'd like one to match!" Zuko shouted at Zhao.

I paused, my eyes widening. Was Zuko saying what I think he was saying?

"Is that a challenge?" Zhao asked, humor in his voice.

"An Agni Kai" Zuko confirmed. "At sunset"

For a moment, Zhao just gazed at the prince. "Very well" He said finally before taking a step back, allowing me to relax. "It's a shame your father is not here to watch me humiliate you. I guess your uncle will do." Zhao turned to go. "Zorra, Zheng, with me" he ordered. Grateful to get away from the bratty Prince, I set down the teapot and moved to follow the commander.

"You do not believe that Zuko can win, Commander?" Iroh's voice stopped us. I turned to see the retired general gazing at Zhao with a stoic expression on his face.

Zhao chuckled as he turned back around. "Please, I think we _both_ remember what happened the last time Zuko dueled a master"

Zuko looked at the ground and Iroh's expression darkened.

"That was then, commander, and this is now. Prince Zuko has trained hard over the last two years, and I am fully confident in his skills. So confident even, that I would like to propose a wager on this duel"

"What kind of wager?" Zhao asked, raising an eyebrow.

A small smile appeared on Iroh's face as he walked over to Zhao. "I would rather not burden my nephew...or your aides...with the details" Iroh's gaze flitted to me as he spoke. Under the eyes of the Dragon of the West, I suddenly felt exposed, my disguise stripped away, and I felt my pulse quicken. Did he know?

"So...shall we?" Iroh motioned to the tent flap. Zhao nodded and the two men left.

I exchanged a look with Zheng. He looked just as confused as I felt.

Whatever discussion took place between General Iroh and Commander Zhao didn't last very long. When they came back in, they both sported stoic expressions, but I could sense that Iroh's contained a bit of smugness and Zhoas' contained a flare of annoyance.

As Iroh headed back to his nephew, his gaze flitted towards me again and a small smile appeared on his face. "Oh Zorra" He said, coming to a stop, and I felt my pulse quicken again. "I do not believe I ever thanked you for the tea, it was delicious"

"Um...you're welcome, General" I said, giving Iroh a small bow before following Zheng and Commander Zhao out of the tent.

"What was that all about?" Zheng whispered to me as we followed Zhao back towards the troop quarters.

"I have no idea" I confessed, though I felt a sense of uneasiness in my gut.

The rest of the day seemed to fly by. Zheng and I spent most of it helping load the ship that was so serve as Commander Zhao's headquarters on his new hunt for the Avatar. I kept my disguise on, thinking that it would be better for 'Zorra' to see the Agni Kai, than the Water Dragon. As we moved this from the supply tent to the warship, I could see Zuko and Iroh going through some training maneuvers in an empty sparring field. I paused during one trip, watching as the Prince went through a basic kata almost flawlessly. The prince was clearly intent on winning the Agni Kai, though I questioned why he was only practicing basic moves. Zuko was going to need a lot more than that if he wanted to beat Zhao.

The two men suddenly noticed me watching and turned to look at me. Iroh smiled at me, while Zuko glared. I smiled back at Zuko, bowed to Iroh, and moved to re-join Zheng, who was waiting for me near the warship.

"Enjoying the view, were we?" He teased as I came up.

At first I was confused, then my eyes widened as I realized what he meant. At my expression, Zheng started laughing. "Oh, shut up!" I giggled, swatting him playfully as we headed below deck.

All too soon, it was sunset. All of us had reported to the area to watch the Agni Kai. I stood with Zheng and about a dozen soldiers, as Zhao knelt before us, wearing nothing except combat pants and a garment that hung off his shoulders. Across the arena Prince Zuko, dressed in similar garb, knelt in front of his uncle.

Almost in unison, both men rose, their shoulder garments coming off with the motion as they turned to face each other.

My breath caught as I gazed at the shirtless prince. He was _a lot_ more muscular than I was expecting!

I felt someone nudge my waist and turned to see Zheng giving me a knowing look. He mouthed 'Zuko' and wiggled his eyebrows at me.

I stuck my tongue out at Zheng, but couldn't stop my face from heating up as we both turned back to watch the action.

"This will be over quickly" Zhao boasted as the two combatants stepped towards each other.

Zuko didn't answer, he just glared at Zhao.

One of the soldiers rang a gong to signal the start of the match and I felt excited as Zhao and Zuko assumed fighting positions. I had only witnessed a few Agni Kai's in my life, and they had been mostly against soldiers. I had never witnessed an Agni Kai with a firebending master like Commander Zhao.

For a moment, the two fighters just stood there, sizing each other up. Zuko struck first, launching two fire blasts at Zhao, who easily evaded them. Zuko fired two more blasts, but this time Zhao crossed his arms and moved them in a circular pattern, dissipating the flames with ease.

I could see Zuko was already panting from the effort of his attacks, and shook my head. Zuko must have channeled most of his energy into his first strikes, a big mistake to make when fighting a master, who knew when to conserve energy and when to expend it.

Zuko grit his teeth and whirled his leg up into a roundhouse kick, spraying flames towards Zhao, who cut through the blast with his hand, then another, and another. The Prince kept up the pressure, launching kick after kick, until Zhao finally ducked down under one blast and, sweeping his hands, shot a low fire blast at the prince, who was forced to halt his offensive and jump back.

As the smoke cleared, I could see that Zuko was panting heavily from fatigue. This confirmed my suspicions, Zhao was letting the prince tire himself out, and now that he was, he would be all but helpless before Zhao, who stalked forward eagerly.

"Basics Zuko! Break his root!" Iroh yelled from the other side of the arena. Zuko suddenly straightened up, looking more determined.

"He's done" Zheng snorted. I nodded in agreement, but deep down, I wasn't so sure.

Zhao punched a blast of fire at Zuko. Though the prince was able to dissipate the flames, he was forced to take a step backwards. Taking a step forward, Zhao punched fire again, with the same result. This happened two more times before Zhao, bringing his hands together, unleashed a larger blast than before, knocking the prince off his feet.

Zuko landed on his back, skidding across the metal floor of the arena and I winced, remembering how much of a painful rash sliding across that surface could give a person.

As the prince tried to get up, Zhao leapt forwards with an angry cry. Landing in front of Zuko, Zhao wasted no time in launching another fire blast at his downed opponent. I felt my breath catch, was this it? An Agni Kai usually ended when one combatant managed to knock the other one down and burn them.

What happened next was so fast I almost missed it. Zuko somehow found the energy to roll away from Zhao's attack and, using a swirl-like move I had never seen before, was able to get to his feet and sweep Zhao's legs out from under him, at the same time.

I let out a small gasp as Zhao staggered backwards. The prince faced him, all his fear from earlier gone, replaced with a confident grin that burned into my eyes like the sun.

Zuko stepped forward, turning his foot sideways to send a small wave of fire sliding towards Zhao, who continued to stumble backwards.

"What is he doing?" Zheng looked confused

"Breaking his root" I parroted what Iroh had yelled earlier, a smile forming on my face despite myself. Commander Zhao's firebending style was actually closer to earthbending than the commander would probably care to admit. He favored strong motions and attacks that were powerful, but not very quick. He also preferred to use his hands to firebend, rather than his feet, so by keeping Zhao off balance, the Prince was preventing the Commander from making a move. Very clever.

Zuko continued to force Zhao backwards, his leg movements becoming higher and higher until he was now kicking fire at Zhao. After one such kick, I noticed that Zhao was now starting to falter, barely able to deflect this attack in time. With an angry growl, Zuko attacked again, and this time Zhao could not act fast enough. The attack knocked him off his feet and sent him rolling backwards across the arena floor.

Everyone in the arena tensed as Zhao came to a stop and Zuko rushed to stand over him, poised to deliver the final blow.

"No" I heard Zheng hiss under his breath and my eyes narrowed. My brother had always had a stronger bond with the commander than I had and he hated to see Zhao get hurt, even in sparring. But even the Lava Bear was powerless to stop an Agni Kai.

We waited for Zuko to land the final blow, but the Prince just stood there, as if waiting for something.

Zhao raised his head. "Do it!" He yelled.

My felt sudden panic rush through me, what was Zhao thinking? Why was he egging the prince on?

With a grunt, Zuko launched a fire blast and I tensed, waiting for the cry of pain that always signaled the end of an Agni Kai, but it never came.

Zuko's fire blast missed Zhao, striking the ground next to the commander's head. I raised an eyebrow, _what was the Prince doing?_ I thought as Zuko broke fighting stance.

"That's it? Your father raised a coward" Zhao spat from the arena floor.

"Consider that a warning, Zhao" Zuko replied, his voice still radiating anger, but now it was controlled, like a fiery torch compared to the raging inferno his anger had been earlier. "Get in my way again, and I promise you, I won't hold back"

The Prince then turned his back on the commander and started to walk away. I heard gasps and muttering among the assembled soldiers, and I couldn't blame them. Rarely did an Agni Kai end this way, without serious injury to one of the combatants. Even so though, something in me felt happy that the prince had chosen mercy over a clear victory.

As Zhao got to his feet, I saw that his arms were tense, his hands curled into fists, and my bliss vanished, replaced by cold dread. I had a feeling what was about to happen, even though I knew it was impossible. _Surely Zhao isn't going_ to...

Before I could finish my thought, the commander let out a vicious cry and whirled, aiming a powerful kick of fire at the Prince's back.

I gasped in horror before I felt myself moving, rushing out into the arena as the light from Zhao's attack filled the sky. However, as the light cleared, I saw that General Iroh had, somehow, appeared in front of Zuko, dissipating the attack, and grasping the Commander's foot. The general than tossed Zhao away, causing him to slide backwards across the arena floor.

"Commander!" I heard Zheng exclaim behind me as I rushed to the Commander's side.

"Commander, are you okay?" I said, plastering a worried look on my face.

Realizing that he had almost become the victim of a sneak attack, Zuko charged forward angrily, causing us to jump back into fighting stances, only for Iroh to bar the prince's path.

"No, Prince Zuko, do not taint your victory" He warned, before turning to us, disappointment written all over his face. "So, this is how the great Commander Zhao acts in defeat? Disgraceful. Even in exile, it appears that my nephew is more honorable than you"

I bit my lip as I saw Zhao tense slightly on the ground. The one thing that Zhao _could not_ tolerate was having his honor questioned, even though I will admit that some of his actions appeared to be less than honorable. But everyone knew better than to bring that up around Zhao.

"I only hope, commander" Iroh continued "...that you will still uphold the terms of the wager that you agreed to"

Zhao's sudden intake of breath was as close to a gasp as I had ever heard from him. But when he got to his feet a moment later, his face was livid. "Leave her out of this!" He snarled with such rage that I fought the urge to wince.

Iroh's face darkened. "Commander Zhao!" Iroh growled, and I this time I _did_ cringe. Who knew such a jolly man could sound so angry? "Need I remind you that...?"

"Zorra is too good to serve under a cowardly prince!" Zhao yelled, cutting the general off.

"What?" I gasped, my eyes widening in surprise. How had my name been drawn into this?

"What?" I heard Zheng gasp as well.

"That decision is no longer yours to make, Commander Zhao" Iroh said sternly, he was still glaring at the commander.

"General Iroh, _what_ are you talking about?" Zheng asked.

I blinked as a sudden thought struck me, and then bit my lip as dread crept down my spine. If the general meant what I think he did...

"I am referring to the wager that Commander Zhao and I made before the Agni Kai began." Iroh explained. "If Commander Zhao were to win the duel, than I was to leave my nephew's service, and enter into his"

"WHAT?" Zuko looked alarmed. "Uncle, why would you...?"

"However…" Iroh cut his nephew off, raising a hand to signal silence. "If Zuko were to win the duel, than you, Zorra…" I tensed as Iroh's gaze slid to me. "...would leave Commander Zhao's service, and join my nephew's crew, as _his_ new aide"

I heard a small gasp escape my lips as Iroh confirmed my suspicions, and the feeling of dread only grew stronger as I heard Zheng exclaim in shock and outrage. There was only one reason I could think of as to why Iroh would want me to join his nephew's crew so badly.

"Her? Uncle, why would I want her as an aide, or even a part of my crew at all?" Zuko scoffed, causing me to scowl at him.

"Well..." Iroh replied calmly, keeping his gaze on me. "In addition to her excellent tea-making skills..." I felt a small blush come over my face at Iroh's compliment "...I have no doubt that you will find the abilities of the legendary Water Dragon...useful in your hunt for the Avatar. Especially since we now know the Avatar currently travels with a water-bender of his own."

I tried to keep my face expressionless as Zuko's eyes widened in surprise and he turned to look at me, but inside I felt uneasiness creeping up my spine. Iroh and I had never met before, so how could he have possibly known about my abilities?

_The tea!_ I suddenly realized and mentally cursed myself. I had used my powers to speed up the boiling of the tea during the meeting! Iroh must have seen me doing it! How could I have been so reckless?!

"_You_ are the Water Dragon?" Zuko asked me, seemingly in disbelief.

"I am" I replied in the coldest voice I could muster. "Is that going to be a problem for you, my_ Prince?_" As I spoke, I slowly waved my hand through the air, gathering moisture around my fingers before hardening them into ice claws, flexing them intimidatingly at the last two words.

To Zuko's credit, he did not flinch at the display, like many of the soldiers had done. Instead, he scowled, his amber eyes narrowing as he returned my stare. "No" He said finally, but his tone, while even, seemed forced. "No problem at all"

"Wonderful" Iroh smiled. "If there are no problems, then let us proceed." Turning to Zheng, he added. "When can we expect the repairs on our ship to be completed?"

Zhang glared at Iroh, but his tone remained formal as he replied "By morning"

"Good, then come morning, we will expect to see you on our ship, Zorra." Iroh said.

"No!" I was expecting an argument, but to my surprise, it came from Zheng, not Zhao. "You have no right to take my sister!" He glared at the general.

"Sister?" Iroh looked confused for a moment, then realization appeared on his face. "Ah, then you must be the Lava Bear."

"What?" Zuko's eyes widened in surprise again.

Zheng scowled General Iroh, his fists clenched. "You know who I am..." He said dangerously. "...then you must know what happens to those whom I disagree with"

I tensed as I felt a slight tremor in the ground beneath me. The threat in Zheng's voice couldn't have been more clear, even if the ground at his feet had not suddenly cracked. I saw Zuko move to stand between Zheng and his uncle, his amber eyes narrowed challengingly.

"Stand down, Zheng" Commander Zhao held a hand up to dissuade my brother, then he turned to Iroh. "Your powers of observation are surprisingly efficient, General Iroh" His eyes narrowed as he spoke, his voice suddenly alive with barely-disguised malice. "I'm starting to wonder if you had foreseen this result from the very beginning"

I gasped at this, looking from Zhao to Iroh. could the Commander be right? Had Iroh set us all up?

"How dare you accuse my uncle of something like this!" Zuko stepped forward. "Especially since you have no proof!"

"How else do you explain his certainty that a mere child like you was able to defeat a firebending master like me?" Zhao argued, his voice tight.

"I would say it was because you underestimated me, Zhao" Zuko replied, before a smile formed on his face "And now you are paying the price for it"

Zhao's face became absolutely livid at the prince's taunt and I knew, from personal experience, that the Commander was close to losing his cool again.

"Zuko, that is enough!" Iroh scolded his nephew before turning back to Zhao. "Commander, your actions alone have already brought you disrespect in the eyes of everyone assembled here, and these baseless accusations that you now throw at me are doing little to salvage what you have lost" Iroh's voice was soft, but no one seemed to have a problem hearing him. "If you have _any_ sense of honor at all, you _will_ uphold the bargain we agreed on"

Zhao glared at the old general, seething, his hands clenched into fists.

I waited with baited breath, my mind whirring as I struggled to figure a way out of this mess, but I couldn't see any. While it was true that I had wanted to see more of the world, serving under a bratty prince and a surprisingly conniving retired general was _not_ the way I had envisioned myself doing that!

"Commander, please. don't do it" Zheng begged, even though it was pointless. We both knew that there was no way out for me.

Zhao must have realized that too, because he finally sighed, seemingly in defeat "Fine. Take her" He spat at Iroh, who beamed.

"Commander!" Zheng's outburst sounded as horrified as his face looked.

"The Dragon of the West is correct." Zhao said solemnly. "I am honor bound to the bargain I made with him." He turned to me. "Zorra, you are to return to your quarters at once, where you will pack your things and have them transferred to Prince Zuko's ship. Effective tomorrow morning, you will no longer serve with this unit, but will serve under Prince Zuko as his new aide and bodyguard. You will take orders only from him or General Iroh, and you will treat them with the same level of respect and discipline that you have shown while serving under me. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Commander" I replied, trying to keep my voice steady, as conflicted feelings wrestled inside of me. My excitement of being able to travel fought against my horror of being separated from Zheng, who was the only real family I had left. From the look on Zheng's face, I could see the feeling was somewhat mutual for him as well.

"Excellent, then we will leave you to say your goodbyes, Zorra" General Iroh nodded at me, before turning to walk towards the other end of the arena. Zuko cast a suspicious look at me before following after his uncle.

"Zorra" I looked up to meet the Commander's gaze. "When you have gathered your things, report to me for final debriefing"

I nodded and Zhao turned away, signaling that I had been dismissed.

Sighing, I turned and began to make my way through the assembled soldiers, many of whom move out of my way like I was parting a river. I saw many soldiers were shooting me confused looks, but when their friends whispered in their ears, their faces went from confused to astonished. I realized that my disguise, and probably Zheng's as well, were useless now, as word that 'Zorra' was really the Water Dragon and 'Zheng' the Lava Bear would spread through the camp like wildfire. Even if I was not being forced to go with Zuko, I would no longer be able to enjoy the anonymity that my painted face and eye lenses had provided me.

I struggled to keep my emotionless mask in place as I left the arena. As I slowly made my way through the tents towards my own, I saw soldiers rushing from tent to tent and mouths whispering into ears. It seemed the news was spreading already. Some soldiers were already starting to look at me funny. I wondered if they would be looking at Zheng the same way. He was _not_ going to enjoy that.

Despite my orders from Zhao, I took my time getting back to my tent, trying to enjoy what freedom I had left, for however long I had it. Eventually however, I found myself outside my tent, and forced myself to go inside. I washed my makeup off and removed my eye lenses, then started gathering my things. There wasn't very much, as Commander Zhao had taught the two of us to travel light. My mirror and makeup table were my biggest possessions, so I was going to need help moving those, but everything else I could take on one trip.

As I packed my possessions into a bag, I heard the tent flap rustle behind me.

"Zorra?" I looked up to see Zheng standing in the entrance. "Are you okay?"

As I stared at my brother, my vision suddenly began to blur. I bit my lip to keep the sudden flow of tears in my eyes from running down my face. While I should have been grateful that Zheng was so concerned about me, his presence was, at the moment, making me feel the exact _opposite_ of okay. Sure, Zheng and I had been separated before, but who knew how long the prince's hunt for the Avatar was going to take? It might be months, or even _years_ before I saw my brother again.

Some of my despair must have shown because the next thing I knew, Zheng was standing in front of me, wrapping his arms around me.

In the confines of my brother's hug, I finally broke, and began to sob quietly into his shoulder.

"I know. I don't like it either" Zheng said soothingly, rubbing my back. "I tried to convince Commander Zhao not to let you go, I even offered to go in your stead, but he wasn't having it"

I chuckled and gave Zheng a watery smile, grateful at the lengths my brother had gone to try to keep me here. "Zheng, you know that you've always been the Commander's favorite. He was never going to let _you_ go" I said, reluctantly pulling myself out of my brother's grasp.

"He shouldn't have to let _you_ go either" Zheng's face took on an angry expression.

"But he _did_, Zheng." I said, my smile fading. "Commander Zhao offered me, _literally_ offered _me_ in a gamble! Like I was some kind of prize to be won!"

"I know"' Zheng's scowl darkened. "How cold he do that to us?"

For a moment, neither of us said anything. We just stood there. gazing at each other.

The rustling of the tent flap made ups look up. I quickly wiped the tears off my face as a soldier ducked under the flap.

"I have been sent to take Zorra's things to Prince Zuko's ship." The soldier said briskly. "Commander Zhao is waiting for you in the commander's tent" He added to me.

"Right. Thank you" I nodded to the soldier as I made to move past him, but paused when I felt his hand on my shoulder. I looked up in surprise to see him looking at me with an apologetic expression on his face.

"Good luck, Water Dragon" He said, before smiling at me.

I returned the smile as he released my shoulder and followed Zheng out of the tent.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who will be sad to see you go" Zheng commented. I gave my brother a playful nudge of gratitude as we moved through the field of tents. There were more soldiers out now, and from the way they were looking at Zheng and me, it was clear that Iroh's revelation had already circulated through the camp. Many of the soldiers had annoyed looks on their faces, including the one I had heard bragging to his friends earlier, but others were looking at us with respect, I even saw admiration on some of their faces. A few even bowed as we walked past.

"I guess you won't be able to hide anymore" I sad jokingly as we left the tent field and walked along the shore towards the commander's tent.

"You were always better at it than me anyway." Zheng chuckled.

"You just don't like wearing makeup do you?" I joked.

Zheng chuckled. "Yeah, once the soldiers find out I've been wearing makeup, I'll be laughed right out of the army"

"They wouldn't dare laugh at you" I said sincerely as we approached the commander's tent.

Inside, we found Commander Zhao seated in a chair. He looked up as we entered.

"Have you packed your things?" he asked me.

"They are being loaded onto the prince's ship now" I replied.

"Good" Zhao said as he came to stand in front of me. "Now, listen carefully, Zorra, before you leave, I want to talk to you about something very important."

That got my attention. "Yes sir?" I asked.

"I want to talk with you about…spying" Zhao said.

My eyes widened as realization set in. "You want me to spy on Prince Zuko?"

"Yes" Zhao nodded. "Though I had not intended to lose the Agni Kai, I now realize that this puts me in a perfect position to learn what Prince Zuko knows about the Avatar, and possibly hinder his efforts while I prepare my own. I want you to get close to him, say whatever you have to say to get into his good graces, do whatever you have to do to get him and his uncle to trust you. Lie to them, charm them if you have to, but find out what he knows and report it back to me. And if the prince somehow finds the Avatar, do whatever you can to sabotage his efforts to capture him, without blowing your cover, do you understand?"

"Yes sir, I understand." I nodded, though I didn't feel much better. Sure, I was a little happier knowing that Zhao was treating me more than a prize, and I had no love for Prince Zuko, considering his actions earlier, but having me pretend to like the Prince, only to betray him, wasn't making me feel much better

"Good" Zhao said, and to my surprise, he placed his hands on my shoulders. "Zorra, this may well be the most important mission you will ever undertake in your service to the Fire Nation. The Avatar is the reason this war has dragged on for so long. He is the greatest threat to the Fire Nation's dream of uniting the nations of the world. He has to be captured, but Prince Zuko doesn't have the manpower, or the skill to do this. He is too blinded by his obsession to regain his lost honor to realize this, so it is up to you to make certain he fails, for his own safety, and so that he can no longer bring dishonor to the Fire Nation."

Before I could reply, a resulting made us look up to see a soldier entering the tent.

"The Water Dragon's belongings have all been moved about the prince's ship." He announced.

"Good. Zheng, escort your sister to Prince Zuko's ship, then come find me on mine. We will leave as soon as you are ready" Zhao instructed.

Zheng nodded, while I bowed formally to Commander Zhao. Zhao nodded back, signaling my dismissal.

"Well, do you feel better now?" Zheng asked as the two of us left the tent into the darkening air.

"A little" I admitted. Though the weight of my situation was still there, I did feel better knowing that Zhao had not blindly risked my services in a gamble, though I had to admit that having me spy on the Prince didn't sound much better.

"I suppose this would be a bad time to say 'I told you so'" Zheng smirked at me.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled as we made our way down to the docks. Zuko's ship, still dwarfed by the ships around it, was easy enough to see, even at night, so we stopped at the edge of the pier.

"I'll go alone from here. You wouldn't want to keep Commander Zhao waiting" I said to Zheng.

He nodded, then the two of us clasped hands, before embracing each other. It was our way of saying goodbye before one of us went on a mission or into a battle.

"I _will_ see you again, sister" Zheng promised me.

"I will see _you_ again, brother" I promised Zheng.

Smiling, we released each other, then I turned and headed down the pier until I reached Zuko's small ship.

_Here we_ go! I took a deep breath, and walked up the ramp. Prince Zuko, General Iroh, and a man I did not recognize were waiting for me at the top.

"Welcome Zorra" Iroh greeted me with a warm smile. "I am so happy that you will be joining us on this exciting adventure!"

Prince Zuko scoffed, and I seriously felt like doing the same thing. But I was on a mission, so I simply smiled and bowed respectfully to Iroh. "Thank you for having me, General Iroh."

I saw a confused expression appear on Zuko's face out of the corner of my eye, but I didn't look at him.

The third man stepped forward. "I'm Lieutenant Jee, captain of this ship. It is an honor to have you aboard, Water Dragon" He sad, before bowing to me.

"The honor is mine, Lieutenant" I returned the bow.

"If you will follow me, I will show you to your quarters" Jee motioned before turning away.

"Thank you, Lieutenant" I said, following him towards the hatch. As I walked, I could feel the prince's gaze on me. _Curious, Prince Zuko? _I thought, allowing a secretive smile to appear on my face. _Good. Let's keep it that way_.

* * *

**And Cut! **

**I know a lot of people were interested in seeing this started, so here you go! I spent most of my free time the last three days grinding this chapter out, and I think it shows! I do apologize for the length of this chapter, but I just...couldn't seem to stop writing! **

**I will be uploading to this story on an irregular basis, but, as is the case with all my stories, the more hits and reviews I get, the faster the next chapter may come out! **

**Until Next Time! **


	3. Chapter 2- The Warriors of Kyoshi

_Tang Ri Shan_

**The Water Dragon**

**Chapter 2: Warriors of Kyoshi**

I could feel the flow of the water as the ship moved steadily through the open sea. The cool night breeze seemed to kiss my skin, and I felt myself sigh with pure bliss. I _loved_ being on the water. It just seemed so….so right for me. Maybe it was because I was a Waterbender. Opening my eyes, I looked up from where I was leaning on the rail of Prince Zuko's ship, gazing up at the night sky. There was no moon tonight, but the sky was studded with thousands of stars.

I let out another sigh as I gazed up at the star-studded sky, but this one had nothing to do with bliss, it was in loneliness. Barely a month ago, I would have enjoyed laying back on the grass in my free time, with my brother, Zheng, gazing up at the stars, and we would make little pictures in the sky by drawing imaginary lines between the stars, laughing at the different images each of us came up with.

I wondered where my brother was now, and whether he was feeling the same way I was. It had been over two weeks since I had been 'transferred' from Commander Zhao's army unit to the crew of Prince Zuko, banished heir to the Fire Nation Throne, and they had been the longest two weeks of my life.

Thanks to the manipulations of Zuko's uncle, General Iroh, Commander Zhao had wagered my service to him, against Iroh's service to his nephew on an agni kai match. The Commander had lost, so I had been forced to join Prince Zuko on his, now two year long, hunt for the Avatar, who had vanished 100 years ago. Supposedly, the Prince had found the Avatar once before, at the Southern Water Tribe, only to lose him again. But what was more surprising to me is that Zuko's crew described the Avatar as being a 12-year-old boy. How could that be possible?

Not that I really cared how it had happened. It wasn't my job. My mission, given to me by Commander Zhao before I had left, was to spy on the prince's plans to hunt the Avatar, and secretly sabotage his efforts, if possible, while Commander Zhao readied his own. Capturing the Avatar was the best way to end the Hundred Year War that consisted of the Fire Nation against the rest of the world, and I was determined to make sure it happened. It was my destiny; the spirit of the previous Avatar had practically told me so in my dreams. Okay, he hadn't _exactly_ said that, but I was sure that was what he meant.

Commander Zhao had also ordered that I update him on the prince's progress, which I had not yet been able to do, since Prince Zuko had barred me from going _anywhere_ near the ship's messenger hawks, and I wasn't about to get caught and blow my cover just to tell the Commander about a plan that didn't seem to be getting us anywhere.

Indeed, I was starting to wonder if the prince even _had_ a plan. Ever since I had joined Zuko's crew, we had merely been travelling from port to port, looking for people who had seen the Avatar, and questioning any that we found. Between my abilities, and Zuko's, these people were usually willing to tell us what we wanted to know. But many of these sightings were days old, at best, and while Zuko wanted to investigate each one, by the time we had arrived at these locations, the Avatar would be long gone. The prince was pretending not to be upset with these repeated dead-ends, but I could see desperation slowly building in his eyes as the impossibility of his task seemed to set in. Recently he had begun a different strategy, he had ordered his uncle to coordinate all the recent Avatar sightings to predict where the Avatar was heading, which, in my opinion, didn't sound much better.

That's what was happening right now. General Iroh and Lieutenant Jee, the ship's captain, were going over reports of recent sightings of the Avatar. Apparently, there were quite a lot, but since the Avatar _supposedly_ traveled with a flying bison, I imagined such a thing would be hard to conceal. I didn't feel the need to sit in on these meetings, because I knew General Iroh would tell me eventually.

One of my first moves, upon settling in on Zuko's ship, was to get as close as possible to old war hero. I knew Zuko would probably be suspicious of me, due to my close connection with Commander Zhao, so I had moved to charm the old man so Zuko couldn't use his royal status to get rid of me. It actually turned out to be rather easy. As long as I brought him tea on a regular basis, and made sure he got double portions at every meal, he was happy to have me around. Recently, he had begun teaching me the basics of Pai Sho, a game that I already knew how to play, but I had no problem pretending to be a clueless novice if it meant I could get more information out of the general.

I had also made an effort to try to befriend key members of the ship's crew. It had been difficult at first, mainly due to the fact that I was the _only_ female on the ship. I had felt a few leering stares following me around during the first few days, and after a few close encounters, I had quickly learned to keep my cabin door closed if I wanted privacy, such as if I was bathing or changing my clothes, and crew members quickly learned to knock before entering my cabin if they didn't want to get a stream of water in the face. Fortunately, word that I was the Water Dragon had spread quickly throughout the ship, and a few displays of my prowess as a Waterbender had made the crew understand that I was not a pushover. Add the surprisingly large amount of uses Waterbending could have on a ship, and most of the crew had accepted me to the point where they were perfectly happy to share information with me.

Indeed, there _were_ a lot of uses for a Waterbender on a ship. I had always suspected this, but had never really had an opportunity to try these out, because Commander Zhao had kept me close every time we had been on one, which had always struck me as odd, but I had never questioned him then. But now, that I had a lot more freedom, I was quickly learning how helpful a Waterbender was at sea. I discovered how to purify seawater, so the crew could drink and bathe on a regular basis, a chore that I now did every evening. I also figured out how to use Waterbending to make the ship more maneuverable in tight conditions, like then we had almost run into another ship while lost in a thick fog. The shocked and awed looks of the crew from that night still brought a smile to my face.

I hated to admit it, but I was _actually_ starting to _enjoy_ my new life on Zuko's ship. I enjoyed playing Pai Sho with General Iroh, sparring with the Firebenders, performing daily chores, and trading stories, and laughs, with the rest of the crew over meals. Many of the crew loved hearing stories of the battles I had been in, though I _may_ have exaggerated my actions in a few of them to impress my audience-for the mission, of course. They, in turn, told me stories about their loved ones back home, stories that had always made my heart clench with envy, but I forced myself to endure them, and was rewarded whenever I saw a feeling of homesickness enter the eyes of the crew-members speaking. When I had asked the crew members why they would leave their families for two years, I was surprised to learn that majority of the crew had joined in this mission at the request of General Iroh. I wondered if they had been victims of his manipulations as well, but I quickly pushed that thought aside. Regardless, it had been made clear to me that the crew of this ship were much more loyal to General Iroh than Prince Zuko, a fact that I felt I could use to my advantage, at the right moment.

"Ahem" The sound of someone clearing his throat snapped me out of my musings, and I turned to see one the ship's Firebenders standing behind me.

"Yes?" I asked firmly.

"I apologize for disturbing you, Water Dragon," He said, giving me a short bow, "but…General Iroh requests that you meet him on the ship's bridge right away"

As soon as the soldier spoke the name of Zuko's uncle, I felt a flare of rage rear up inside me like a snarling dragon, but I kept my face expressionless as I turned away from the rail, thanked the soldier, and walked across the deck towards the tower that held the bridge.

As I climbed the stairs, I took a deep breath, trying to quash my anger. I was on a mission, and the last thing I needed was my anger at the general distracting me. I could get back at him by sabotaging his nephew's efforts. I kept repeating this to myself in my head as I arrived at the bridge, where I found General Iroh and Lieutenant Jee looking over something on a table, discussing in low voices with several of the crew.

I cleared my throat, to let them know I was here. Everyone looked up. "Ah Zorra" Iroh smiled when he saw me.

"General Iroh," I said formally, biting my tongue to keep my face neutral, as I bowed respectfully. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes Zorra" The elderly man nodded. "I would like your opinion on something" He beckoned me forward.

Feeling a little confused, I walked forward until I was standing level with the two men.

"Water Dragon" Lieutenant Jee bowed to me, as did the rest of the crew.

"Captain" I bowed back to Lieutenant Jee, then to the rest of the crew, before turning to Iroh.

"What do you make of this?" Iroh asked, pointing to the table.

Following his finger, I saw that he was pointing to a map of the Southern Ocean, with the South Pole at the bottom, and the southernmost part of the Earth Kingdom on the top. Circled X's dotted the map, with lines connecting them all.

"I'm…guessing these are all recent sightings of the Avatar?" I said after a minute.

"Indeed." Lieutenant Jee nodded. "As you know, we've been trying to pinpoint where the Avatar is going, but, as you can see, these sightings are all over the place. He appears to be heading North, but that's all we can make out"

I had to agree. The Avatar was, gradually, making his way north, travelling between the islands. But he didn't seem to be in any hurry, based on how long some of these lines were.

_Wait a minute…_ My eyes began following the lines again, and something clicked in my head. The Avatar was travelling from island to island, and he didn't come back to the same place twice. Suddenly the Avatar's movements seemed less like wanderings, and more like a search pattern.

"Zorra" I blinked and glanced up from the map to see Iroh looking at me. "What is it?"

_Agni!_ I realized that my realism must have shown on my face. "Oh, it's nothing, General." I quickly tried to deflect the question, but Iroh simply raised an eyebrow, before motioning to the map again.

"Zorra, if you have an idea, please share it with us." He said calmly, but there _was_ a tone of firmness in his voice that I couldn't help noticing. "Any solution, no matter how ridiculous it may sound, has the potential to be the correct one. We will not judge you, isn't that right, Lieutenant?"

"Absolutely" Jee nodded.

I frowned, thinking my options over. I didn't _want_ to help Iroh, but he was clearly suspicious of me, and refusing him might lead to my cover being blown. Even though I was pretty sure I had the tea-loving general wrapped around my finger at this point, I didn't want to take any chances.

"Well…" I said finally. "Well…it's just…from what I can see here," I gestured to the map. "It looks like the Avatar may, in fact, be…looking for something" I explained slowly.

"Really?" Lieutenant Jee looked down at the map. "I suppose that _could_ be possible."

"Interesting" Iroh stroked his bearded chin thoughtfully. "Why do you say that, Zorra?"

"Mainly the fact that he never appears to go to the same island twice." I said, pointing at the map. "If he was just wandering, or even practicing 'evasive maneuvering', his movements would be more random on the map."

"Hmmm, that could be true" Jee leaned over the map. "But what could the Avatar be looking for?"

"If I had to guess…" I started to speak, a plan slowly forming in my mind as I gazed at the map. "…I'd say maybe the Avatar is looking for things that are familiar to him. I believe that the Southern Air Temple is on one of those large islands he visited."

Iroh studied the map again, then he snorted in surprise. "You are correct Zorra." He announced. "But we already investigated the Southern Air Temple, and he was not there.

"Was that before, or after, you found him at the South Pole_?"_ I asked tentatively. I highly doubted that the Avatar was at the Southern Air Temple, but if I could make the prince, and his uncle, think that he _was_, that would delay them significantly. Those temples were, supposedly, _very_ hard to get to. It would take a lot of time for us to reach it, and that was time Commander Zhao could put to good use. Besides, I had always wanted to see an Air Temple.

"Before" Iroh answered, and I felt a tiny flush of triumph. "But I see no reason why the Avatar would go there now. Any Air Nomads that resided there are long dead. There's nothing there now, except weeds and empty buildings."

"But maybe the Avatar doesn't know that" I said. "If he's really been gone a hundred years, then maybe he's trying re-orient himself with the world, by looking for things that he knows. If I was gone that long, that's what I would do."

"Hmmm, you may have a point, Zorra" Iroh looked thoughtful. "But the map shows that he has already left that island, and has been steadily moving away from it."

"Yes…" My mind whirred as I tried to come up with a way to re-direct the conversation. A sudden inspiration came to me and I turned to Lieutenant Jee. "Lieutenant, tell me, the Avatar has a flying bison, correct?"

"Yes" Jee nodded.

"And most of these sightings, have they been of the Avatar _himself_, or of his bison?" I asked.

"The bison primarily, but…" Jee's eyes suddenly widened as he realized where I was going. "Oh, you think the Avatar is trying to trick us?"

"Perhaps" I nodded, bending over the map so the men couldn't see my smirk. "We know the Avatar has traveling companions, maybe he's having these people travel in one direction with his bison, as a distraction, while the Avatar himself travels in another direction."

"I see" General Iroh said slowly, stroking his beard thoughtfully. "Yes, a very good point. Thank you for sharing it with us."

"Of course." I bowed, trying to hide my smile as Iroh gathered up the map.

"Come, let us go see my nephew now." Iroh's next words made my smile fade away completely as he turned to leave the room. "He wanted me to notify him immediately if we found something related to the Avatar."

"Both of us?" I blurted out.

Iroh stopped, then turned back to me, a smile on his face. "Yes, Zorra, both of us. This is _your_ discovery, therefore I believe _you_ should be the one to tell Zuko about it."

_Great!_ I thought in disgust as I nodded at the general. I thought I had seen enough of the bratty prince today! But I followed General Iroh anyway out of the bridge, and along the corridors of the ship until we reached Prince Zuko's quarters.

Opening the door, we saw Prince Zuko sitting in front of an altar. Four lit candles stood in front of him, their flames brightening and dimming along with his rhythmic breathing.

"The only reason that you should be interrupting me, is if you have news about the Avatar" He said as we came in, his eyes still closed.

"Well…there _is_ news, Prince Zuko. But you may not like it" General Iroh said solemnly, a concerned look on his face. "Don't get too upset"

"Uncle, you always told me that keeping a level head is the sign of a great leader. Now whatever it is you have to say, I'm sure I can take it" Zuko replied, his tone strangely calm.

I hid a smirk. Knowing Prince Zuko, this tranquility would not last much longer.

"Very well then..." Iroh paused before continuing. "We have no idea where he currently is."

"WHAT?" Zuko exclaimed, his calm demeanor shattering as the flames on the candles flared all the way up to the ceiling. We turned away, our arms raised, in an effort to shield our eyes from the sudden bright light. As the flames subsided, Zuko leapt to his feet and whirled around, his face a mask of rage.

"You know, you should really consider opening a window in here." I commented, trying to hide my chuckles at how 'level-headed' the prince was being right now.

"Zorra makes a good point, Prince Zuko" Iroh added, cooling himself with a fan that had appeared out of his sleeve.

"Quiet!" Zuko glared at me before snatching a scroll from his uncle's hands. "Give me the map!"

I felt my eyes narrow, despite myself.

"There have been multiple sightings of the Avatar, but he is proving impossible to track down, but…" Iroh explained, continuing to fan himself, while Zuko examined the map.

"How am I going to find him, Uncle?" Zuko asked, and I was pleased to hear a note of panic in his voice. "He is clearly a master of evasive maneuvering"

"Perhaps you are right, Zuko" Iroh said soothingly. "But Zorra has an idea that I think you should hear."

At this, Zuko looked up at me, and as I met his amber eyes, I felt something tense inside of me. Keeping my voice steady, I explained my idea that the Avatar was looking for landmarks, or locations, that were familiar to him, and the Southern Air Temple may be one of those locations.

"That is ridiculous!" Zuko sneered, after I had finished. "We already checked the Southern Air Temple, he wasn't there!"

"Did you check there _recently?"_ I countered, and this made Zuko pause. "Iroh said you went there _before_ you found the Avatar at the South Pole. Maybe the Avatar thought it would be a good place to seek shelter and learn about what's happened while he was gone."

"Zorra's argument actually makes a lot of sense." Iroh agreed with me.

Prince Zuko looked thoughtful. "Hmmm, Yes, perhaps another trip to the Southern Air Temple _would_ be informative." He finally admitted.

I felt my mouth and eyebrows curve up into a triumphant smirk and Zuko's eyes narrowed at me when he saw. "Go tell the captain to alter course for the closest town! I want to see if anyone there has seen the Avatar recently!" He ordered, pointing to the door.

"Yes, Prince Zuko" I said bowing, before leaving the room. Once I was back outside, my smirk became a full-on grin and I pumped my fist in an act of celebration. _Yes!_ I cheered in my head, hardly believing that both the Prince _and_ his uncle had bought my improvised story. Returning to the Southern Air Temple would take up _a lot_ of time, and, even if by some crazy chance the Avatar _was_ there, he could easily escape on his flying bison!

I was fairly skipping as I made my way back up to the bridge, but took a moment to resume my stoic expression before I climbed the final set of stairs and made my way back into the bridge.

Upon entering, I saw that the only people remaining were the helmsman at the wheel, and Lieutenant Jee, pouring over another map. I cleared my throat as I entered. Both men looked up.

"Captain," I approached Lieutenant Jee, inclining my head respectfully.

"Water Dragon." Jee returned the gesture while the Helmsman's gaze returned to the window. "What can I do for you?"

"Prince Zuko has ordered us to alter course and head for the nearest town." I reported.

Jee raised an eyebrow, but did not look as surprised as I had expected. "Did he say why?"

"He _says_ he wants to check for any new sightings of the Avatar." I answered, before a small smile appeared on my face. "In my opinion, it's to buy more time while he comes up with a plan to find him that might _actually_ work."

"Of course," Lieutenant Jee's mouth twitched upwards for a moment, but the smile was gone in an instant. "It's just as well actually. I was talking with the cook earlier, and he reported that our provisions are running low. We will need to make port at some point anyway, to take on more supplies"

"I could probably see what I could find in the harbor, as well." I offered.

"That would be excellent, thank you" This time, the smile _stayed_ on Jee's face.

I smiled back, but inside; I couldn't help but chuckle. Like General Iroh, Lieutenant Jee had been one of the first people I had befriended when I had come aboard the ship. It had actually been easier than I had expected, for Lieutenant Jee was a practical man, and in addition to simply showing him the proper respect, once I had demonstrated to him how useful it was to have a Waterbender on board, he quickly began treating me as valued crew member.

"Of course." I nodded and bent over the map. "So where are we, right now?"

"We are here" Jee pointed to a spot on the map. "…and it appears the closest inhabited port would be here, to the east." He pointed to another section of the map.

"Sounds good." I nodded. "I may be able to find some shellfish in this area." I pointed to a bay that our destination was nestled into, then I paused as my eyes settled on an island not too far away from the port we were heading for. Leaning farther over, I squinted to make out the name. "Kyoshi Island," I read aloud. "Why does that name sound familiar?"

"Maybe you're thinking of Avatar Kyoshi?" Jee suggested, and my eyes widened as realization struck me. Zheng and I had both studied the history of past Avatars, in the event that the current Avatar was found and we were needed to help take him down.

"Ah yes, that would probably be it." I nodded. gazing down at the island again.

Avatar Kyoshi had lived over three hundred years ago, born in the Earth Kingdom to a pair of criminals, Kyoshi was known for her imposing demeanor, physically towering over most people and having fewer qualms than other Avatars about killing her opponents. Her exploits as the Avatar had included; stopping the Yellow Neck Uprising, defeating Chin the Conqueror, and preventing a civil war from breaking out in the Fire Nation. Oddly, I had learned that last part from a Fire Nation soldier, who I had never seen again following that day. Commander Zhao had blatantly denied this fact when I had asked him, but from what I could tell of the soldier, I didn't think he was lying.

Kyoshi Island, named after the Avatar, was created when Avatar Kyoshi separated the spur of the Earth Kingdom that was her home from the mainland. It was protected by the Kyoshi Warriors, an elite, all-female legion of fighters, none of whom were benders, or so I had been told. However, I suspected they were part of the reason why Kyoshi Island had not yet been colonized by the Fire Nation. That, and the fact there was supposedly very little on the island to draw the Fire Nation to it in the first place.

"Water Dragon?" Lieutenant Jee's vice snapped me out of my thoughts. He was gazing at me in a way that told me there was something on his mind. "Can I get your opinion on something?"

I blinked, a little surprised that the ship's captain was asking _me_ for advice? "Um…yes, of course"

"I was thinking about what you were saying earlier, about how the Avatar may be looking for landmarks that might seem familiar to him, which is why I was examining _this_ map" Jee explained, pointing to Kyoshi Island. "I've heard that the residents of Kyoshi Island hold the Avatar in high regard. The current Avatar would probably be welcomed there."

"Hmm, probably…" I mused, examining the map again, for something else had just clicked in my memory. If what I had read was correct, the waters around Kyoshi Island were home to large schools of Elephant Koi, some of the biggest fish in the world. I remembered reading about how people would attempt to ride these giant fish for fun in ancient times. I had dreamed of it myself, after learning about it.

Riding the Elephant Koi was, of course, very dangerous, due in no small part to the Unagi, a large eel that hunted the Elephant Koi but was not above snapping up any humans it encountered in the water. Because of these dangers, the practice of riding Elephant Koi had generally faded away, but it had still been pretty common 100 years ago, and if the current Avatar was as old as Zuko's crew claimed he was, and still thought and acted the way I suspected he did, such a challenge would have certainly been tempting to him, a 12 year old kid who was eager to have fun and seek adventure, and if he had been in isolation for over 100 years, he probably wasn't aware that practice had died out.

"So…should we head for Kyoshi Island, then?" Lieutenant Jee looked up from the map, gazing expectantly at me.

I shook my head. "I don't think that would be a good idea," I said, trying to subtly steer us away from a highly possible Avatar encounter. In truth, I thought that it was very likely the Avatar _would_ stop there, if he wasn't there now, but I couldn't tell the lieutenant that. "We don't know for certain that's where he's going. Kyoshi Island may be neutral in the war right now, but I doubt its inhabitants would take kindly to us showing up on their shores uninvited, and they are far from defenseless. I've heard of the Kyoshi Warriors taking down Firebender battalions before."

"Pssh!" I heard the helmsman snort dismissively. "They're a bunch of girls, what can they do?" He muttered, causing my eyes to widen in shock.

"_WHAT_ WAS THAT?!" I barked, causing both men in the room to jump as my head snapped up, an angry expression appearing on my face. Sexist behavior like this was something I had a lot of experience with, and, because of this, I had developed _a lot_ of hatred for it.

While it was true that there were more men than women in the Fire Nation Army, there were, actually, _very_ few gender-based restrictions in the Fire Nation, which was one of the things I loved about the country. Men and women were both mostly free to pursue whatever dreams they chose, which were mostly determined by the talents they possessed, unlike in the Water Tribes, or the majority of the Earth Kingdom, where men and women tended to have more..traditionally defined roles, or the culture of the Air Nomads, which had dictated that men and women live completely separate lives, almost entirely cut off from each other! I had shuddered when I had first learned about this. No wonder the Fire Lord had wanted to change things!

Unfortunately, even though I hadn't been the only woman in Commander Zhao's forces, it hadn't made things any easier for me. For as long as I could remember, people had challenged me, and attempted to discredit me just as much for me being a woman, as they did for me being a Waterbender, if not more. It had taken time, patience, and a lot of fierce sparring matches, sharp words, and cold shoulders, for me to build up my reputation to the point where men no longer looked down on me, but I had met enough female soldiers in my time to know that my struggle had not been unique, which was why I couldn't stand it when sexist behavior like this occurred.

"Helmsman, would you kindly repeat what you…just…said?" I asked slowly in a won't-take-no-for-an-answer tone, allowing my voice to grow more dangerous with each word.

"Umm…well…I…" The helmsman stuttered before he grew silent. Clearly, he had not intended for me to overhear him. He shot a panicked look at Lieutenant Jee, but the ship's captain said nothing, and I didn't look over at him to see his expression.

"Well?! I'm waiting! And turn around, so I can see your face!" I demanded, causing the helmsman to flinch. Slowly, he turned around. I could see he was visibly sweating now.

"Yes, well…I…I d…didn't really s…say anything imp…p…ortant" The helmsman finally stammered, trying to duck out of the verbal thrashing he supposed I would give him.

I opened my mouth to do just that, when I suddenly paused. _What was I doing?_ Prince Zuko was the one who yelled when he got angry, not me! Just this morning, he had done exactly that after I had bested him in a sparring match, even though I had actually been holding back, at General Iroh's request. The prince had called me a 'filthy, Water Tribe peasant', even though he knew _darn_ well that I had been born _in_ the Fire Nation! He seemed to yell at everyone when he was upset about something, and now, here I was doing the exact same thing! It was like I was...turning into him!

Frowning in disgust at this realization, I decided to let the helmsman off easy. "Yes, I'm sure you didn't," I said firmly. "And I would strongly suggest that, for your safety, you refrain from saying other things that are 'not important', understood?" My voice was cold as ice as I had finished speaking.

"Yes sir!" The helmsman shouted, bowing respectively, then, realizing his mistake when he saw my eyes widen, he blushed and quickly added, "…I mean Ma'am! I understand!"

"Very well. As you were!" I sent the cowering man one final glare as he turned back to the wheel before turning back to the map, and noticing Lieutenant Jee looking at me, an impressed, or maybe it was amused, expression on his face.

When the lieutenant saw me looking, his gaze dropped to the map." So, we are docking in the closest port, then?" He asked.

"That is the Prince's orders" I confirmed.

"Very well" Lieutenant Jee made to roll up the map, then paused, his gaze moving to look over my shoulder. A second later, I heard footsteps behind me.

Turning, I froze when I saw Prince Zuko standing a few feet away from me. He was looking at me, and though his expression betrayed nothing, I suddenly had the feeling that he had witnessed my 'outburst' at the helmsman. To my surprise, I felt my cheeks begin to heat up.

I quickly bowed, hoping to hide my reddening face. "Prince Zuko. We are altering course to the nearest port, as you ordered. The cook has also reported that we are running low on provisions"

"Good" Zuko replied, stepping into the room. "Go get a list of everything we need. I don't want to spend any longer in port tomorrow than I have to."

"Yes, Prince Zuko" I said, bowing to him before rushing from the room. As I descended down the stairs, I heard him speaking to the captain, and felt my face redden again, for some reason. I wasn't too upset with him hearing me yell at the helmsman, but I had never blushed in his presence before, and that had been surprising. I only hoped the prince, or the captain, hadn't noticed it. Such an action could have easily been taken the wrong way, and the _last_ thing I needed right now were unnecessary distractions. I was here to spy on the prince, not fall in love with him!

Shaking my head, I quickly made my way to the galley, where I was greeted by the cook. He was delighted to hear we were heading for port and quickly gave me a list of everything he needed. Rather than return to the bridge, and face the prince again, I opted to head to Zuko's empty quarters instead, dropping off the list in his cabin before retreating to my own for the night.

After latching my door, I removed my armor and underclothing, before donning my sleeping clothes, consisting of a red tunic that came down to my hips and a matching pair of leggings that ended at my knees. Sure, it may not have been traditional women's sleepwear, but it served my needs.

As I stretched before getting into bed, I paused as I took in my reflection in the mirror on my vanity table, one of the few things that I had brought with me from Commander Zhao. Prince Zuko had scoffed when I had brought it on board, but that table was more important than he realized. Hidden in secret compartments were makeup and other little tricks that had allowed me to change my appearance to blend in amongst Commander Zhao's soldiers. I had not yet had a chance to utilize these tools since coming aboard, but I still kept them with me, just in case.

I chuckled as I opened one of these compartments, pulling out a case that contained a pair of red lenses that I could place in my eyes to make them amber-colored, a common trait of the Fire Nation. I had used them to hide my own ice-blue eyes, back when I served under Zhao, and I had worn them, alone with makeup to lighten my skin tone, when I had first met Zuko. Maybe I should wear them again at some point, just to mess with the prince, and get a chuckle out of the crew.

Smiling, I returned the lenses and closed the compartment, before crossing the room to my bed and laying down. Pulling the blanket over me, I closed my eyes and began to think about how many members of the crew I would be able to fool wearing eye-lenses and skin-lightening makeup, since none of them had seen me like that before.

In a few moments, sleep came over me.

* * *

_I felt the wind caressing my face and the heat of the sun above me, and I opened my eyes. "Huh?" I blinked, looking around. I was no longer in my cabin, but was now standing on a clear sandy beach. I was also no longer wearing my sleeping clothes, but was wearing a white dress that reached down to my knees. The silky-smooth material seemed to kiss my skin and I felt myself smile. _

_I looked around, there was no one else around me. In front and back of me, the beach seemed to stretch on, as far as the eye could see, before disappearing into the haze. To my left, tall-steep-looking cliffs, stretched up until they seemed to touch the cloudless sky above. The sun was shining above the cliffs, big and bright. To my right, the ocean lapped at the sand, the noise it made was so soothing. Naturally, I found myself drawn towards the water. As I waded into the surf, the water seemed to swirl around me, tickling my legs, causing me to laugh out loud. _

_Suddenly, a loud noise made me look out to sea. A large, twisting, column of seawater was rising into the air, snaking and coiling, almost like it was alive. Wings suddenly erupted from the column, as did arms and legs, while the two ends formed into a lashing tail and a tooth-filled head. _

_My eyes widened. It was a dragon, a dragon made of water! _

_As I watched, the water dragon turned towards the shining sun above and let out a roar. __But there was no anger in its voice, at least, none that I could detect. As if in response to the dragon's call, the sun suddenly seemed to glow brighter and become hotter. Even from this distance, I could see that steam was beginning to rise from the water dragon's body, but the creature didn't mind. In fact, if anything, it seemed pleased, because it roared happily again._

_I laughed at the display, but my laughter quickly faded when I suddenly saw a change in the light. I looked up, and was shocked to see something dark red was spreading across the sun, covering it and changing the sun's light on that side from golden to red. _

_I heard the dragon roar again, but this time its roar sounded panicked. _

_Suddenly, ground began to rumble beneath me. Cracks began to form in the cliffs beneath the sun. I heard the water dragon roar in fear again, but I found myself unable to move. _

_With a thunderous BOOM, a pillar of fire suddenly erupted from the ground behind the cliffs, reaching up until it slammed into the sun, causing me to gasp as lighting erupted from collision between the blue fire and the sun. Wherever the lighting struck on the ground, the ground seemed to melt into lava that soon began to flow over the cliffs, like a glowing, red waterfall. _

_I heard the dragon's panicked roar again, but it sounded louder…or closer. I forced myself to turn to see the water dragon flying through the air towards me, its eyes locked on the sun and the pillar of fire. It roared again. As if in response, I heard a deep rumble behind me and slowly turned to see that the lava was beginning to rise up into the air as well, forming into something, a bear. _

_ My jaw dropped in horror as the bear threw its head back and roared. I heard the Dragon roar again, but this time there was anger in its voice, and I could see why. The dragon did not like the pillar of fire and wanted to get rid of it, but this bear of lava was in its way. _

_By now, the dragon was right at the edge of the shore and I felt myself tremble. Both the dragon and the bear were enormous, towering over me, higher than the great gates of Azulon! The dragon roared, clearly telling the bear to get out of its way, but the bear only growled in response. The Dragon tried to move around the bear, but the lava creature blocked its path. Finally, the dragon tried to fly over the bear, but the bear reached up with its paws and grabbed the dragon's water body. _

_A loud hissing filled the air and the bear roared in pain as its lava paws were cooled by the dragon's body, but it refused to let go. _

_"It's hurting itself" I realized as the bear continued to hold onto the dragon's body, despite being in obvious pain. "But what does it…?" My voice broke off as the dragon, which had been struggling to get to the sun, suddenly cried out. I looked up to see that the sun had completely turned red. The pillar of fire, its work apparently done, vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving only a blood-red sun. _

_The water dragon seemed to go limp for a moment, and the lava bear finally let go of it. For a moment, neither creature moved. Then, with an angry hiss that made my hair stand on end, the dragon turned to look at the bear, anger in its eyes. It opened its mouth. _

_"NO DON'T!" I cried out, realizing what the dragon intended to do. But it was too late, the dragon blasted the bear with a stream of water from its mouth, causing the bear to roar in pain. Screeching angrily now, the dragon lunged at the bear, wrapping its long body around the other creature, even as it blasted the bear, in the face, with water again. Under such a relentless attack, the bear had no chance and quickly went still as its lava body cooled into black rock. Hissing with fury, the dragon closed its jaws around the still bear's throat and bit down. With a crack, the bear's entire head broke off its not rocky body and tumbled down to land in front of me, with the rest of the bear's body crumbling into dust. _

_Roaring, the water dragon took to the sky, flying over the cliff and hissing at something that lay behind it, something I couldn't see. The dragon reared back, and spat water down onto whatever it saw. The water must have been hot, because steam began rising from the cliff top, but wait? I blinked, and gasped in horror as I realized that was smoke not steam, and then I heard something else, above the hissing of the water, and the dragon's angry roars came another sound, the sound of screaming, shouting…and crying…_

_"No!" I gasped as I suddenly realized what was happening. "NO!" I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting to see any more. _

"No!" I gasped, my eyes snapping open, and I sat upright in bed, panting heavily, my body slick with sweat. I looked around wildly, then sighed with relief as I realized that I was back in my cabin, on Prince Zuko's ship.

What was going on? I thought, moving to sit on the edge of my bed, taking some deep breaths in an effort to calm down. Obviously, I had been dreaming, rather vividly too. Even now, I could still hear the roars of anger from the dragon and of pain from the bear. The last time I had dreamed something this vivid was when Avatar Roku had appeared to tell me that only a dragon of water could quench the fires of war. Maybe this dream was showing me how I was going to do that.

"No" I murmered, shaking my head before placing my face in my hands. I didn't want the war to end _that_ way! In the Fire Nation, I was known as the Water Dragon, due to my bending prowness and ability to boil water, just as my brother was known as the Lava Bear for his physical strength, and ability to generate and manipulate lava. Apparently, this dream was showing me that, when I met my brother again, it would be on opposite sides of a clash that would end in my brother's apparent destruction, and my apparent corruption, leading to me destroying what sounded like an entire city. I had to do something to stop this, but what?

Too stressed to go back to sleep, I got out of bed and sat in the middle of my cabin floor, trying to meditate. I did this whenever I was upset, to compose myself. We had learned this technique from a Firebending instructor, who believed it was essential for benders to be able to control their emotions at all times, even if they weren't Firebenders.

After a few minutes, I felt the soothing pull of the ocean outside and felt myself calming down. Sensing that it was too late to go back to sleep, but too early to see about breakfast, I decided to go for a swim, to see if I could find anything I could give the cook to prepare for breakfast. Our provisions had proven to be lower than we had initially anticipated. Sometimes animals like clams and crabs lived in harbor waters, I had discovered this fact when I was stationed with Commander Zhao.

Taking off my sleeping clothes and slipping into the Sarashi wrap I kept as a bathing suit, I threw a cloak over me for modesty-I was a woman after all-and left my cabin.

The ramp used for boarding was towards the middle of the boat and my cabin as towards the back, so I made my way quietly through the ship. Passing by the area where most of the crew slept, I smirked as I heard the echoing rumble of people snoring. I took a quick detour to grab a small basket from the galley, before making my way on deck, which I had assumed to be empty. As I passed through the door however, I froze when I spotted Prince Zuko and his uncle sitting in the middle of the deck, meditating.

_Agni!_ I cursed mentally. I kept forgetting that Firebenders had a tendancy to rise with the dawn. That meant the rest of the Firebenders were probably awake as well. Even though I didn't really care if anyone saw me in a bathing suit, with the nightmare still fresh in my mind, I was in _no_ mood to deal with questions right now. I made to turn around, but froze when Iroh suddenly called out "Good Morning Zorra!" I peeked out to see that both he, and Zuko, were gazing in my direction.

"Tui and La, help me" I muttered a small prayer to the Moon and Ocean spirits as I pushed my way through the door and stepped out onto the deck, which felt cool beneath my bare feet.

"Good morning General Iroh, Prince Zuko" I said, walking up to the two of them and bowing respectfully. "I apologize if I interrupted you."

"That is quite all right, my dear. We were just finishing anyway" General Iroh smiled at me.

Prince Zuko looked more suspicious. "What are you doing up at this hour?" He asked, his gaze running over my cloak, and finally settling on my hands. "And what's with the basket?" He added.

Seeing no reason to lie, I said. "I was thinking about taking a swim, to see if I can find some food for the cook to prepare before we send someone to market."

"A…swim?" Prince Zuko repeated slowly, and to my surprise, I saw the faintest trace of red appear on his cheek.

I smirked. "Yes, Prince Zuko, swimming is what we call the action of moving through the water" I explained teasingly, moving my arms in slow, exaggerated movements.

"I know what swimming is!" Zuko snapped, his face growing redder as his uncle chuckled.

Hiding my chuckle at Zuko's antics, I added, "Well, here is something you probably did not know, harbors like this one are a good place to find small animals, such as crabs, because the boats keep the big animals that eat them away."

"Oh, that would be wonderful if you could find some!" Iroh smiled gratefully. "I haven't had fresh crab in so long!"

I smiled at the general before turning my gaze to Prince Zuko, who gazed at me suspiciously, but finally sighed.

"Fine, but be back by breakfast!" He said, turning away.

"Yes Prince Zuko." I bowed before turning and making my way across the deck. As I made my way down the deck, I was surprised to see that there was a small layer of white on the house roofs. It must have snowed a little during the night. Smiling, I walked to the edge of the dock, set down my basket and pulled my hair out of the bun I usually kept it in, letting it flow freely down to my shoulders.

Taking off my cloak and setting it, and the basket, down on the dock, I did a few stretches to warm myself up before diving into the cold water, which immediately woke me up and made me feel better. Smiling at the refreshing feeling that flowed over me, I kicked out, shooting through the dark sea, weaving between the posts of the dock, feeling freer than I had been in days.

Commander Zhao had ensured that I had spent countless hours training in the water, so I was a very strong swimmer, and I had incorporated a way to utilize Waterbending, allowing me to dart through the water as fast, and as agile, as a fish. Utilizing this, it didn't take me long to find a few crabs, and catch a few small fish I found nosing through the trash that had been dumped into the sea. I also found some ocean kumquats, something I hadn't expected to find this far south, but I wasn't about to turn them down. Every time I caught something, I brought it back to the dock, using Waterbending to toss it into my basket before continuing.

I was just grabbing some edible seaweed I had found on the floor of the bay, when a shadow passed overhead. I looked up to see a boat moving across my line of vision, blocking out the sun, which was shining brightly now. Realizing that I had probably been gone a lot longer that I should have been, I reluctantly decided to return to the ship. Zheng had used to complain all the time about how long I had spent in the water whenever we had gone swimming. Each time, I had jokingly challenged him to drag me out of the water, knowing full well that my brother could barely swim.

Chuckling at the thought as I swam up to where Zuko's ship was anchored, I used Waterbending to launch myself out of the ocean on a column of water, landing on the dock. Twirling with my eyes closed, I used another Waterbending move to pull seawater from my clothes, hair, and body, instantly drying myself, and spraying the water away from me.

"_blurg…glub…_HEY…_glurbp_!" An annoyed voice, accompanied by spluttering, rang out from behind me, causing me to laugh as I spun around to confront whoever had snuck up on me.

"Oh grow up, you big baby! It's just a little water! What..are you afraid to get…wet?" My voice cut out, and my eyes widened as my gaze rested on a dripping wet, and angry-looking… "P-Prince Zuko?"

"What is the meaning of this?" The prince demanded.

"I'm…um…sorry," I stammered, trying to hide my giggles at the sight of the prince soaking wet. "…Um…here, let me help you!" I said, raising my arms.

Prince Zuko exclaimed in surprise as I bent the water off of his skin and clothing, before streaming it over my head and down into the ocean behind us. Once I finished, I glanced around for my cloak, but to my surprise, it was gone. "Um…do you know where my cloak is?" I asked, still looking around, before leaning over to see if it had fallen into the water. "I could have sworn I left it right here"

"I…I don't…" Prince Zuko's reply made me pause, and I turned to see that he was looking at me with a strange expression on his face. He didn't look angry anymore, he looked, slightly awed, and in his eyes, there was something I had never seen before.

My eyes widened, and my face flushed red as a sudden, _horrid_ thought struck me. My skin, which had felt pleasantly chilled, was suddenly flooded with goosebumps. "Why are you looking at me like that?!" I demanded, instinctively trying to cover myself as best I could.

"What? No, I...I wasn't...! I...forgive me!" Prince Zuko quickly exclaimed, his gaze swiftly dropping to the dock, and I saw that his face was bright red as well, which, for some reason, only made my face get even redder. Clearing his throat, he said. "My…my uncle asked me to see where you were. You missed breakfast"

"I'm sorry" I said, trying to keep by voice steady. "I guess I lost track of time."

"Well, I've ordered the cook to save something for you. Eat, get dressed, and then meet me on the bridge as soon as possible." Zuko ordered before pointing to the ship.

"Yes Prince Zuko" I bowed before striding past him, with as much dignity as a girl wearing a suddenly-very revealing bathing suit could. As I climbed up the ramp, I could feel the prince's gaze on me and felt a sudden shiver on me that had _nothing_ to do with the cold.

_What's happening to me_? I rubbed my shoulders as I went below decks. _Soldiers have seen me in a bathing suit before! There's nothing abnormal about that!_ So why did I feel so embarrassed about Prince Zuko seeing me like this? Maybe it was because he had caught me by surprise. The only other person who had done that before was Zheng, but he was my brother, so I wasn't really sure if he counted.

A low murmur of voices cut into my thoughts and I looked up to see that I was passing the galley. My stomach growled again as I smelled the food cooking and, before I knew what was happening, I had turned back and stepped through the galley entrance.

Fortunately, the galley was mostly empty, with only the cook, and two other sailors present, who looked up as I entered. As I crossed over to the cook, I could feel the gaze of the two sailors on my body and glared a warning at them, causing them to look away.

"Ah, Zorra" The cook smiled as I approached. "Thank you for finding those crabs for us, it's been a while since I've tasted fresh crab."

"My pleasure." I smiled back at him. "Prince Zuko said you had something for me?"

"Ah yes" The cook bent down and picked up a large bowl with rice, crab puffs, and a small cooked fish on it.

"Thank you" I took the bowl and a set of chopsticks. "I'll be having this in my cabin, but I'll bring the dishes back.

"Of course" The cook and I exchanged small bows before I turned to leave. As I passed the two sailors again, I tried to ignore their eyes, but when I heard one of them give a low whistle, I stopped, feeling anger rush through me. Raising my hand, I used waterbending to lift the soup from their bowls. When I heard them gasp in alarm, I spread my hand out, spraying both of them.

As the cook burst out laughing, I turned on my heel to glare at both of the sailors, who were trying to shake the soup contents off of themselves. "Keep your eyes to yourselves, soldiers!" I said sharply, causing both men to pause and look up at me. "Or next time, you will be getting that hot soup _in_ your eye! Understand?"

"Yes, we understand!" One of the soldiers answered as they both bowed respectively. "Please forgive us!"

"It won't happen again!" The other added.

"See that it doesn't" I growled, shooting the two one final glare before I stalked out of the galley.

"Hey, don't look at me, you guys asked for that!" The cook's voice followed me down the hall, and I chuckled in spite of myself. Knowing the cook, this incident would be common knowledge by lunchtime, which would hopefully help spread the word to whoever had taken my cloak, that I was not someone to be messed with.

After changing, finishing my breakfast, and returning the dishes to the galley, I made my way up to Prince Zuko's quarters, where he quickly put me in charge of buying provisions for the cook, giving me the list I had left in his quarters the previous night. I rallied one of the crew members to assist me, and we went ashore to the market.

The cook's list wasn't very long, but it still took us over an hour to collect everything. While the crew member haggled over the price of fish with one of the vendors, I let my eyes wander up and down the market. It was small, but it was bustling and vibrant, and I found myself relaxing as I looked around.

I suddenly felt something nudge against my boot and looked down to see a dog looking up at me with a sad expression on its face. I tilted my head questionably, and the dog whined and opened its mouth a little, allowing its tongue to flop out.

A wave of pity rose up in me as I saw how thin the dog was, its ribs were practically showing. The poor thing was probably hungry. Glancing around, I saw a meat vendor nearby with some skewered meat on a stick and smiled.

"I'll be right back" I said to the crew member, who nodded distractedly. He was deep in conversation with the fish vendor.

I crossed over to the vendor and ordered one of the meat sticks. Paying for it, I munched on my snack and, as I strode back to the fishmonger, I locked eyes with the dog and 'accidentally' dropped a large part of my meat on the ground.

The dog seemed to perk up instantly and he dashed over to devour the meat. Smiling, I strode back to the crew member, who had just purchased a large fish from the fishmonger and was turning away with excitement in his eyes.

"Water Dragon. There's been a sighting of the Avatar!" He exclaimed.

I was instantly on alert. "Where?"

"The fishmonger says he's on Kyoshi Island" His answer made my eyes widen in a jolt of alarm, though I tried to keep my face from showing this. So I had been right!

"Where did he get this information from?" I pressed.

"He says he heard it from the fisherman who sold him the fish, who heard it from a resident of one of the villages on the island." The crew member explained. "We have to tell Prince Zuko!"

I frowned thoughtfully. I had a choice to make. My mission was to keep the Avatar out of Prince Zuko's clutches. The simplest way to do that was to try to make sure this information did not reach the prince. On the other hand, if the prince found out that I had withheld information from him, I would probably be locked up, and then I wouldn't be much use at all.

"Yes, we should!" I said finally, making my decision. Commander Zhao had only told me to sabotage the prince's efforts to _catch_ the Avatar, not in _finding_ him. Besides, there was still a chance the Avatar would leave Kyoshi before we could get there. We had learned from previous sightings that the Avatar never tended to stay in one place for very long.

Back aboard the ship, I began spreading word that the Avatar had been seen on Kyoshi Island, telling the crew to eat lunch quickly, as Prince Zuko would no doubt want to move as soon as he had heard this.

Finally, once the cook had finished preparing the fish, I escorted on of the crew as he brought it to Zuko and Iroh in the prince's quarters, where I told him the news.

"The Avatar's on Kyoshi Island?" Zuko exclaimed, getting to his feet. "Why are you just telling me this now?" He demanded.

"I figured I should inform the rest of the crew first so they could get ready, because I assumed you would want to move as soon as you had heard" I explained smoothly.

"That is very thoughtful of you, Zorra" General Iroh commented.

"Thank you, Genera Irohl" I bowed.

"Zorra, ready the rhinos!" Zuko ordered as he made to leave the room. "He's not getting away from me this time!"

As I made to follow, I saw Iroh casually point to the smoking fish still on the table. "Are you going to finish that?" He asked.

Zuko suddenly turned back and snatched up the fish. "I was gonna save it for later!" He snapped before leaving the room, leaving Iroh to cross his arms and pout.

Smiling, I pulled a smaller cooked fish from behind my back. "Don't worry, General." I said sweetly, placing the fish in front of him. "I didn't forget about you"

Iroh's eyes lit up at the offering and, as I left the room, I heard him munch happily on the fish, causing me to roll my eyes. What a glutton!

* * *

We left the harbor just after lunch, and after about an hour of hard sailing, Kyoshi Island was soon in sight. As we approached, I retreated to my cabin to prepare. I donned my armor and helmet, made sure my dao swords were sharp, and filled my dual water skins before strapping those, and my swords, to my back.

Taking a deep breath, I left my cabin and headed to the front hold, where I met with Prince Zuko and four other soldiers that were taking part in the raiding party. Three Komodo Rhinos had been saddled and armored for our use. To my despair, I saw that the soldiers were already mounted on two of the rhinos, leaving only one option for me, the rhino that Zuko was sitting on.

"Well? What are you waiting for?!" Zuko ordered, glaring at me.

I narrowed my eyes but, just then, I felt the ship come to a stop. Sighing in defeat, I climbed up onto the saddle in front of Zuko, trying _very_ hard not to notice the sudden increase of heat from _directly_ behind me. But I felt the heat redden my face all the same.

"Good luck!" Iroh exclaimed as the ship's walkway lowered, revealing a barren stretch of sandy coast dotted with clusters of rocks, with a visible trail leading inland.

"Remember, I want the Avatar alive!" Zuko ordered. I snapped the reigns, urging my rhino forwards.

But barely had we left the ship, when I felt a sudden...sensation, a subtle, psychic tug from behind me that made me bring my rhino to a stop and look back.

"What is it? Why have you stopped?" Zuko demanded. Behind us, I saw the other riders halt, looking confused, but also alert.

"I..." I paused, wondering how best to phrase things. Zheng had told me that, sometimes, when he was fighting an Earthbender, he felt the person before he saw them. It was like he could feel when someone else was Earthbending, and that alerted him to where the person was, even though he couldn't see the bender. I had often wondered if the same principle applied to me and Waterbending. Of course, testing this had been next to impossible, but this feeling I had just experienced felt sort of how Zheng had described, and if someone here was Waterbending, it could only be one person, the Waterbender that was travelling with the Avatar!

This was proof that the Avatar was here! And the Waterbender was close too, _very_ close. The feeling had come from behind a cluster of large rocks directly to the right of the other two rhinos. But I couldn't let Zuko know that!

"I...um...I thought I... heard something" I said slowly, pretending to look around.

"What? Where?!" Zuko twisted in the saddle to look around as well, the other soldiers doing the same.

"Never mind! It was...probably nothing" I said quickly, snapping the reigns, urging my mount forward, away from where I had sensed the Waterbender. I heard Zuko grumble quietly behind me, and fought the urge to smile.

When we entered the village, the place appeared to be deserted, but I could see movement from behind buildings and through windows. The villagers were probably hiding from us.

"Come out Avatar! You can't hide from me forever!" Zuko challenged.

There was no response. Clearly the Avatar wasn't going to be baited _that_ easily.

"Find him!" Zuko ordered. The other two rhinos grunted as their riders urged them forwards. Mine moved to follow, but I pulled it back. Something wasn't right here.

"What are you doing?" Zuko hissed in my ear.

"It's too quiet here" I growled back, my body tensing as I saw movement behind a building out of the corner of my eye. Something glinted briefly in the shadows. A weapon, perhaps? "I sense an ambush"

Scarcely had I finished speaking when I saw a flash of green from above. I looked up…just in time to see a group of girls wearing green dresses leap from the rooftops, catching our soldiers by surprise.

"And there it is" I said as our soldiers were knocked off their rhinos by the green-clad girls.

"You know what to do." Zuko ordered, and I nodded, leaping off the rhino.

As the two forces clashed, I suddenly saw a girl rush past them, making for where we were standing. Zuko shot a fire blast at the girl, but she darted sideways to avoid the attack and resumed her charge without breaking stride.

Zuko shot two more fire blasts, but the girl dodged them in the same way and still kept coming.

"Take her!" The prince barked at me.

_Time to put on a good show_, I thought, unsheathing my dao swords. Grasping one in each hand, I surged forward to meet the girl. I swung my swords, hoping to force her to block, instead, the girl did something unexpected, and jumped straight up. A second after she left my vision, I felt something land hard on my back and push off, knocking me to the ground. I turned to see the girl leaping at Prince Zuko, war fans extended in both hands.

But Zuko also pulled a surprising maneuver of his own and swung his Komodo Rhino around, so that the beast's tail slammed into the girl in mid-air, knocking her into the ground and causing her to lose her war fans.

As I flipped to my feet, Prince Zuko launched a fire blast at the now defenseless girl, only for another girl to jump in the way, dispersing the flames by swinging her fans. As I prepared myself to combat this new enemy, a loud thud and a sudden "oof!" made me look to see that _another_ girl, taking advantage of the Prince being focused on the two in front of him, had attacked from the side and had managed to knock the prince off his rhino.

"I guess training's over" I heard one of the girls say…in a _boy's_ voice. I paused, confused, only for the 'girl' to suddenly rush at me. Caught off guard, I was knocked down _again_.

Cursing under my breath at my carelessness, I got back up again to see that the three warriors had Prince Zuko surrounded on the porch of one of the houses.

As the now rider-less rhino dashed off, the prince shot me an angry look from where he lay, and then he nodded.

I bit my lip, but nodded back, sheathing my swords. Just before we had entered the town, the prince had instructed me not to use my bending until he authorized it. Clearly these warriors were more skilled than he had expected, if he was signaling me to use it now.

Assuming a combat stance, I took a deep breath. Reaching out with my bending, I swung around, pulling the fallen snow up off the ground, thawing it into liquid form as I spun. Facing them again, I compressed the water into an ice ball and shot it toward the back of the warrior facing away from me, just as the warrior standing across from her glanced up.

I saw her eyes widen. "SUKI! BEHIND YOU!" She shrieked, pointing.

The girl, Suki, whirled around, her eyes widening at the sight of the incoming projectile, but it was too late.

My ice ball smacked into the warrior, knocking her across the porch of the house, into a pole, where she collapsed, crying in pain.

"Suki!" The boy shouted, but with an angry cry, Prince Zuko suddenly spun himself around on his hands while shooting fire out from his feet, knocking the other girl into the house and causing the boy to recoil away from the fire. Zuko shot a low fire kick in the boy's direction. The boy jumped over the attack, but as he landed, Zuko swept his legs out from under him, knocking him on his back. Zuko jumped over the fallen warrior and dashed out into the street, where I joined him.

"Nice work with the ice ball, but next time, be more alert when watching my back" He growled to me in a low voice.

"My apologies, these girls surprised me." I replied in the same undertone.

"Don't let it happen again." Zuko warned, and, for some reason, the tone of his voice caused a flood of…something, to rush through me.

"Don't worry, I won't." I assured him, forcing my feelings back down. Commander Zhao had taught me that emotions could be a distraction, and that was the last thing I needed right now.

"Nice try, Avatar! But these little girls can't save you." Zuko raised his voice, his voice echoing through the suddenly still air. I could hear grunts and clangs from around us, but they seemed muffled, mostly taking place inside, or behind, the buildings as our soldiers scuffled with the other Kyoshi Warriors.

"Hey! Over here!" Zuko and I turned to see a young boy, probably no more than 12, standing in front of the statue of Avatar Kyoshi. My eyes widened as I took in the arrow-shaped tattoos on the boy's bald head and the staff in his hands. _Could it be?_

"Finally" Zuko snarled before launching two fireballs in the boy's direction. The boy dodged the first one and spun his staff to disperse the second one. He then spun his staff over his head…and lifted off the ground!

My eyes widened at this. Only an airbender could have done something like that, and the only airbender alive today was… "The Avatar" the word escaped my lips in a whisper.

The Avatar propelled himself through the air to land in front of Prince Zuko and myself. I moved to engage him, but the prince held out a hand for me to stay back, before lashing out with his foot, kicking the staff out of the boy's hands.

Spotting movement out of the corner of my eye, I saw a Kyoshi warrior rushing towards the prince. Drawing my Dao Swords again, I charged at the girl, who saw me coming and altered her course to meet me. The two of us began to spar, my dao swords against her war fans. She was good, I had to admit, as we dueled, our weapons whirled in an intricate dance, but finally, I saw a chance to get the other hand. Faking a sudden stumble, I turned away slightly. As I suspected, the girl, seeing an opening, swung at my now-unprotected side, but I suddenly whirled, my swords sweeping around to catch the girl under her arms, slicing through her robe. One glanced off her armor, but I felt the other blade hit something soft and the girl suddenly cried out in pain. Capitalizing on the moment, I spun my other dao sword in my hand and clubbed the girl on the back of the head with the end of the grip, knocking her out.

"Tamara!" A cry made me look up to see another Kyoshi Warrior glaring at me. "You're going to regret that!" She growled.

"Hey, don't blame me! _She_ started it!" I argued, pointing to the unconscious girl. If anything, this only seemed to make the girl angrier. With a growl, snapped open her war fans and rushed at me.

Narrowing my eyes, I watched her draw closer, gaging her movements, assessing her attack strategy. Seeing a patch of snow between me and her, I smiled and subtly waved my hand, taking control of the snow. When the girl stepped on it, I flash froze it, encasing the girl's food in ice. With a shout of surprise, the girl looked down, and I lunged forward, capitalizing on the distraction.

As I approached, the girl looked up, her eyes widened as I swiped at her head. She blocked me with one war fan, I swiped with my other sword, she blocked me with the other fan, as I had planned. Smirking at my opponent, I jumped, tucking my legs under me, and lashing out with me feet.

"Oof!" The girl was knocked backwards, and I landed on the balls of my feet before leaping forward, crossing my blades before whipping them outwards again in a maneuver I called, the Dragon's Fangs. I felt one of my blades strike something soft, and there was a cry of pain as the warrior fell to the ground, one hand clutching her right cheek.

Hearing a shout from behind me, I turned to see the Avatar, now armed with a pair of war fans, perform a spinning maneuver, presumably to gather air, before throwing an enormous gust of wind at Zuko, who was charging at the Avatar, full force. The gust of wind caught the prince head on, blowing him through the wall of one of the buildings.

"Zuko!" I cried out unconsciously, my eyes widening at the aggressiveness the Airbender was showing. I had always been told that the Air Nomad society was non-violent, but I guess that any bending element can be dangerous if utilized the right way. Abandoning the wounded warrior, I rushed towards the Avatar. Upon seeing me, the boy suddenly dropped the fans, picked up his staff and started to race away. He threw his staff in front of him, and wing-like attachments sprung out.

"Oh no you don't!" I growled, realizing what the boy was trying to do. Sheathing my swords, I used my Waterbending to draw water from my skins, fashioning it into a long creeper and launched it at the Avatar just as he grabbed onto his glider/staff and took off. I felt the creeper wrap around the rear of the glider and yanked downwards. With a yelp of surprise, the Avatar was pulled out of the sky, slamming hard into the earth. As he groaned, I quickly pulled the boy's staff back, tossed it behind me, and gathered the water back up again, wrapping it around me in a water cloak.

"You're not going anywhere" I growled.

The boy shook his head and looked up at me. His gray eyes widened as he saw the water covering me.

"Y…you…you're a Waterbender!" The boy stammered.

I couldn't stop the smirk that came over my face at the boy's look of shock. "Yes. Yes, I am"

"But…but why would a Waterbender fight alongside the Fire Nation?" The boy asked. "Don't you know what they did to your people?!"

My smile quickly faded, to be replaced by an angry scowl. "The Fire Nation _are_ my people!" I snarled.

"Um…are you sure?" The Avatar looked confused. "Because, the last time I checked, Waterbenders are supposed to born in the _Water_ Tribe!"

"'And the last time _I_ checked, the Avatar was supposed to _protect_ the world, not _destroy_ it!" With that, I launched my water whips towards the boy.

But the boy proved to be surprisingly agile, gasping in fear as he moved from a laying position to a standing position quicker than I could blink, he leaned to the side to avoid one whip, and jumped up over the second.

"What are you talking about?" The boy cried; his eyes wide with surprise as he floated back down to the ground. "I'm not destroying the world, you guys are!" Look what you're doing to this place!"

"Only because _you're_ making us!" I growled, forming multiple water bullets from my cloak. " If you…hadn't…escaped…from Zuko…before…we…wouldn't be…doing this…now!" I accused as I launched bullet after bullet at the boy.

The Airbender dodged each of my attacks, but I was close enough to see that my words were having an effect on him, based upon the expression on his face.

"Well…I…" He paused. Seeing my moment, I quickly lashed out with the water I still had in my cloak, forming two whips that came at the boy in a scissor-motion.

The boy's eyes widened, then he did something surprising. Instead of going back, or up, which I had been counting on him doing, he simply leaned backwards allowing both whips to pass over him, then he whirled to his feet, his hands twisting to form a ball of air, which he then leapt onto and balanced upon, almost like he was standing on a spinning top.

Too late, I realized what the boy was trying to do. Desperately, I pulled the water back towards me, but it was too late. The boy rushed forward, moving impossibly fast, and slammed into me at an angle, knocking me to the side. In the time it took me to get to my feet, the boy had reached his glider, plucked it up, opened it again, and taken off. I immediately tried to pull him back down with another water creeper, but this time the boy anticipated me and jigged, avoiding my attack. Within seconds, he was beyond my reach, flying over the village and out of sight.

Gritting my teeth, I dashed out of the alley where we had been dueling and looked around. There was no sign of the boy, but Zuko and his Firebenders were still fighting against the green-clad girls.

"Where is he?" Zuko shouted when he saw me.

"I don't know! He got away from me!" I shouted back.

"Find him!" Zuko ordered as he shot a fire blast at one of the girls, who blocked it with one of her fans.

Then, in a surprising move, the girl closed the fan in her other hand and threw it at Zuko like a knife. Zuko ducked and the fan struck the helmet of a soldier behind him with a loud clang, knocking the man to the ground.

Despite the situation, I felt my level of respect for these warriors go up a notch. General Iroh had been right. These girls were certainly formidable enough to take on Fire Nation battalions.

Or _were_ they? I paused for a moment, closely observing the girls who were still standing. Despite their impressive skills, they weren't actually taking any form of visible offensive, mainly blocking fire blasts and making strategic advances and retreats, almost like they were trying to get our soldier's attention, almost as if they were…

My eyes widened as I realized what was happening. "ZUKO, THEY'RE STALLING!" I shouted.

Zuko turned to look at me. "What?"

"These girls aren't fighting with us, they're distracting us!" I explained as I dodged a fan thrown by one of the girls. "Keeping us busy so the Avatar can make a break for it!"

Zuko's eyes widened, then narrowed as he realized what I was saying. "All of you, spread out! Forget the girls and find the Avatar!" He ordered.

We fanned out in different directions, ignoring the girls and dashing down different alleys between the buildings.

Seconds later, I heard someone shout "OVER HERE! THEY'RE OVER HERE... OOOF!" Whirling towards the sound, I saw one of our soldiers go flying backwards. Narrowing my eyes, I raced towards the building, pulling water from both my skins as I did so. Forming the ends into ice hooks, I launched them at the roof of the building that the soldier had been knocked away from. Feeling the hooks dig into the wood of the structure, I used my bending to pull myself up to the roof of the building, just in time to see a large, furry mass with horns rise up with a groan from the other side, some sort of saddle on its back.

I was so startled that for a moment I almost dropped my water. _A Flying Bison!_

I had read about these creatures, said to be the original Airbenders, but I had never thought they could get _that big!_

"Water Dragon!" Zuko's voice snapped me back to reality. "What are you waiting for? Take them down!"

_Right!_ I nodded at him, before allowing a smile to cross my face. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I _could_ take down something that big in the air, but I could never resist a challenge, and, if by some miracle I succeeded, it would definitly get me on Zuko's good side, and I could always 'help', the Avatar escape later.

Taking a deep breath to clear my mind, I pulled _all_ the water out of both of my skins, leaving them limp against my back. I drew the water around me, crossed my arms, and clenched my fists, Focusing, I closed my eyes and tried to direct the energy in my body to the water surrounding me.

Instantly, a loud _hisssss_ reached my ears. I opened my eyes to see the water was now cloudy and was beginning to boil. Steam began to appear in the air around me.

Satisfied, I looked up at the fleeing bison, straight into the blue eyes of a girl about my age, who was looking over the edge of the saddle, staring down at me with a look of utter shock on her face.

_That must be the Avatar's waterbender!_ I realized as the boy Kyoshi Warrior appeared next to her. He followed her gaze and his jaw dropped and his eyes bugged out when he saw me, causing me to smirk. _Okay you two, let's see what you think about THIS!_ I thought.

Whirling my hands, I launched the boiling water straight at the flying bison. I clenched my fingers into claws, super-heating the head of my boiling water whip, as well as morphing it into that of a roaring dragon in order to surprise the waterbender. I didn't know if she would be able to re-direct my attack or not, so I decided not to take chances.

I saw the girl's eyes widen and the boy screamed something at her. The girl hesitantly put her hands out, and my water whip faltered as I felt her bending abilities push against mine, but I could tell the force she was exerting was a lot weaker than mine.

"Sorry Sweetie!" I hissed in triumph as I thrust my hands forward, focusing all my energy on overpowering her hold on the water. My water whip surged forward, its dragon mouth gaping, and the girl faltered, screaming a warning.

The bison blasted upwards, causing the water to miss, but I had expected this. Smirking, I raised my hands up over my head, bringing the water up as high as I could before clapping my fist into my hand, causing the head of my 'dragon' to burst, spraying the underside of the bison with drops of scalding water. The beast roared with pain and lurched downwards in the air, causing its riders to scream in terror.

But instead of crashing back down to the ground, as I had hoped, the bison suddenly pushed downwards with its tail, propelling itself back up.

I clenched my fists, realizing that my attack hadn't done enough damage, and now the Bison was too high for me to try again!

Unsure of what to do now, I moved to the edge of the roof and looked down. Zuko was standing in the middle of the clearing, watching the fleeing bison. When he saw me, he glared at me. I shrugged my shoulders, schooling my face into what I hoped was an apologetic expression.

"Back to the ship! Don't lose sight of them!" Zuko ordered as his men rushed to round up the rhinos.

Sighing with relief, I made to jump off the roof, only to pause as I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Instinctively, I jerked myself backwards, just missing a closed war fan that had been thrown at me.

I looked down, and instantly spotted the culprit, one of the Kyoshi Warriors, whos face bore an annoyed expression. I narrowed my eyes at her, and, with one hand, caused the snow beneath her feet to rise up. As she glanced down in surprise, I waved my other hand through the still humid air around me, generating enough water to form a set of ice claws.

"SUKI!" A girl screamed as I swept my hand downwards, shooting the ice claws at the trapped warrior, whose eyes widened as she looked up to see the incoming projectiles. Not waiting to see if my attack hit its target, I dashed across the roof to the side of the building and leapt off the roof, drawing my dao swords again and stabbing them into the opposite wall of the alley to help slow my fall, until I hit the ground.

Rushing out of the alley, I ran over to one of the rhinos and jumped on, along with two other soldiers, and we raced back towards the ship.

I heard shouting behind me, and I felt a pang of guilt strike my heart, but I ignored it. This was a war, there were going to be casualties, and if it wasn't the enemy, it was you. That was one of the first things that Commander Zhao had taught me.

As the rhino plodded over the ground, there was no noise from the soldiers, save for the occasional pained grunt, which caused me to smirk despite myself. Those Kyoshi Warriors were formidable indeed.

As we approached the coast, the water in the cove near the ship suddenly exploded and an enormous eel-like creature rose from under the water. A _Unagi!_ My eyes widened.

The creature cried out, whipping its head back and forth, as if something was bothering it. A few seconds later, the creature's mouth opened and a jet of water gushed out, spraying out towards the town, and us.

Frowning, I raised my hands and focused, repelling the falling water away from me and the soldiers. _What was going on?_ Then, I suddenly glanced back towards the village we had left. _Oh_, I realized as I saw the water from the Unagi's mouth was raining down on the village, putting out the fires that had been set by our troops during the skirmish.

"Thanks, Zorra" I turned to see one of the soldiers giving me a grateful smile. "It's bad enough we got thrashed, I'd rather not have to deal with the indignance of a wet uniform right now as well"

I gave a small smile back to the soldier, before a loud rumble made me look up to see that the Unagi was diving back into the water and the flying bison was swooping down to catch someone who appeared to be free-falling.

My smile widened as understanding struck me. The Avatar must have forced the Unagi to spray water on the burning village. He was bold, I had to admit that. This would make an interesting story for Zheng and Commander Zhao.

"Zorra! Bring the Bison down!" Zuko ordered.

"I can't, there's not enough time!" I replied, gazing at the fleeing bison

"What?" The prince twisted in the saddle to frame me with a suspicious look. "What do you mean there's not enough time?" He accused.

"The bison is moving too quickly!" I explained smoothly, turning to look at him. "By the time I'd have gathered enough water, it would be too high to reach! I'm sorry!" I shook my head. "There's nothing I can do!"

The Prince glared at me for another moment, then groaned angrily and faced forward, snapping the reigns. As the Komodo rhino plodded back towards the ship, I glanced up towards the fleeing sky bison, and a small smile crept across my face.

Technically I wasn't lying. I really wasn't sure if I could reach that far, even with all this ocean water to work with. Besides, after what the Avatar had just done, I felt that he deserved to get away this time. There would be other chances to capture him.

I frowned suddenly. What was I thinking? My mission was to keep the Avatar _out_ of Prince Zuko's clutches, not catch him! This made me think back to what had happened in the village. Why had I been so eager to capture the Avatar then? Was it becuase of what he had said to me?

_"Why would a Waterbender fight alongside the Fire Nation? Don't you know what the Fire Nation did to your people?"_ The Avatar's voice, so young, so innocent, echoed in my mind, and I snorted. That boy had no idea what he was talking about!

_"I'm not destroying the world, you guys are!"_ I squinted my eyes shut and shook my head, trying to dispel the Avatar's voice in my head, but the image of the Kyoshi Warrior I had attacked, her eyes wide as my ice claws flew towards her, seemed to be carved into my memory.

"No" I muttered under my breath, my eyes snapping open. What was happening to me? I had never felt like this before!

By the time I was finally able to dispel the voices and images in my head, we had returned to the ship. I helped the soldiers care for, and bed down, the Komodo Rhinos while Zuko met with his uncle to plan their next move. By the time we were finished, the ship had pulled away from the island and had turned to the north, following the direction the bison had been fleeing in.

Feeling rather exhausted, I made to go to my cabin, but was intercepted by a crew member, who informed me that dinner was ready. Realizing how hungry I suddenly was, I followed him.

As I ate, I listened to the other crew members who had been involved in the raid describe the battle to those who had not gone.

"Huh, I wonder why the Avatar only used Airbending." One of the crew members spoke up after the story had been told. "I mean, I can understand why he didn't last time, because he was on the deck of the ship, so he couldn't use Earthbending, but this time he was on solid ground."

"You know I've been wondering the same thing." Another crew member spoke up. "Last time he only used Waterbending when he fell off the ship, why didn't he use it before?"

"Maybe he couldn't." I froze as a third crew member spoke up.

"What do you mean?" Everyone was looking at the man now. I perked my ears up.

"Well, maybe he hasn't been able to master anything other than Airbending yet." The man shrugged. "I mean, it takes years of skill to master a bending discipline, and the Avatar is only about 12 years old.

"One hundred and twelve years old, you mean" Someone corrected him.

"If you want to _technical_, then yes" The man snorted. "But still…"

The discussion continued, but I was no longer listening. Could he be right? The Avatar _had_ only utilized Airbending when he had fought against Zuko and me, none of the other elements. Until now, I had thought that it was simply because the Avatar preferred Airbending, being the element associated with his people, but maybe…maybe it was because he hadn't been trained in the other elements yet.

If that was the case, then hope was on our side. Sure the Avatar was a powerful Airbender, but if that was the only element he was skilled in, that made him vulnerable. But it also meant that the Fire Nation had to capture him before he mastered the other three elements, or else he would become too powerful to handle.

I took a deep breath and set down my chopsticks. Commander Zhao had to be told about this, but that would mean getting a message out, which was very risky, as Prince Zuko had still forbidden me to go near the messenger hawks. If I was caught, my cover would be blown, and I would probably end up in a cell. But, having seen the Avatar with my own eyes, having witnessed first hand how dangerous he could be with _only_ Airbending, I now felt that was a risk I had to take.

When dinner was over, I returned to my cabin with my heart thudding. Making certain my door was latched, I pulled out a scroll of paper, some ink, and a pen. I thought for a moment, then composed my first undercover message.

_Commander Zhao,_

_DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS LETTER_

_Prince Zuko and I engaged the Avatar today on Kyoshi Island, and I can confirm the description Zheng was given about the avatar, and his companions, to be true. He escaped us and was last seen flying towards the Western Earth Kingdom._

_Be advised, the Avatar only used Airbending when he fought us, which leads me to suspect he has not yet mastered Water, Earth, and Fire. However, his bending style is more aggressive than what I expected from an Airbender. Recommend you intercept him before he reaches the Northern Water Tribe, as that will most likely be his final destination. _

_Again, do not respond to this letter. _

_I hope you and my brother are well._

_Zorra_

I blew softly on the ink to dry it, then read over the note again. It seemed okay, short, and to the point, just how Commander Zhao liked things.

Now came the hard part.

When the ink was dry, I rolled up the scroll and stuck it carefully into my waistband before putting away my writing supplies. Fortunately, I had prepared for a time when I might need to sneak a hawk away to send a message and I had developed a plan.

Opening my door and peering both directions, I crossed the hallway and opened another door, revealing a closet. I stepped inside and, after rooting through some bags, I pulled out a strange-looking bundle of cloth, a dark red tunic, and some armor that belonged to a Firebending member of the crew, including a helmet with a skull-like face-plate. Wrapping the bundle of cloth around my waist and chest, I secured it with some rope, then slipped the tunic on over it. It was a little big for me, but that was the idea. With the tunic, and the padding underneath, hiding my feminine shape, and the armor hiding my face, I could pose as a Firebending member of the crew. At least, in theory. I hadn't tested the idea out yet. Looks like tonight was going to be my night.

Trying to play down the unease in my gut. I slipped on the armor, tying it as best I could. Making sure my hair was in a tight bun, I slipped the helmet over by head, adjusting it until I could see clearly out of the eyeholes of the faceplate. I made sure that the message was safely tucked into my belt and slipped out of the room.

Breathing steadily to keep myself calm, I began to make my way towards the room where the messenger hawks were stored. I turned left, then went up a staircase, then left, then right, but as I turned around another corner, I froze in horror. Prince Zuko and General Iroh were coming down the corridor ahead, straight towards me!

Before I could backtrack, I saw General Iroh's gaze rest upon me, and one of his eyebrows rose. Realizing it was too late to retreat, I held my breath and did the first thing that popped into my head, I stood off to the side, and bowed, my gloved hands clasped in the Fire Nation army symbol, one fist clenched, the other on top of it, fingers splayed, like a flame. My heart was beating so loudly as the two approached, it seemed to echo in my helmet.

"At ease, soldier" Prince Zuko ordered, walking right past me without even looking at me. I followed orders, shifting into parade rest as General Iroh walked by. He _did_ look at me, a curious expression on his face, but Zuko called to him before he could say anything and he eventually followed his nephew. I waited until I couldn't hear them anymore, before I almost collapsed with relief. I had done it; I had fooled Prince Zuko and his uncle! Feeling more boldened, I turned and continued on.

Two staircases and a corridor led me to where the messenger hawks were kept. As I suspected, a guard was posted outside the room, a firebender. He looked up at my approach.

"Have you seen Chu?" I asked in a deep voice, which I had been practicing for a week.

"Yes, he was here five minutes ago." The man replied.

"Agni!" I grunted, trying to sound annoyed. "He must have sent a hawk already. Prince Zuko told me he wanted to add onto the message before it was sent"

"Oh" I couldn't see the guard's face under his faceplate, but I imagined he looked surprised. "No, I'm sorry, he already took a hawk." He said a minute later.

"It's fine, I'll just have to sent the addition as a second message" I said, taking a step forward. "I just need another hawk"'

The guard tilted his head, like he was thinking it over, and I once again felt my heard thudding in my chest. If the guard didn't believe me, I was going to be in trouble.

Finally, the guard nodded. "Go ahead" He motioned to the door behind him.

Thanking the guard, I walked past him, opened the door and entered the messenger hawk room, which contained several birds at the moment. The birds were clustered around a feeding tray, but looked up at my entrance. I held my arm out and one of them instantly flew to land there, cawing softly.

Stroking the bird's feathers, I stepped back out of the room, where the guard sealed the door behind me.

"Thanks." I said to the guard. "Oh and…no need to tell Chu about this, I'll make certain both him, and Prince Zuko, know the issue was dealt with." I said, hoping that would help cover my tracks.

"Right" The guard nodded and resumed his post.

Walking as fast as dignity would allow, I climbed another stairway and found myself on deck. Night had already fallen, and a cool breeze flew across the barren deck. I felt a smile creep across my face as the wind leaked through the chinks in my armor, chilling whatever part of my skin it could. Holding the bird out so that its back was to me, I opened the message capsule on the bird's back and slipped in the scroll, before sealing it with a dark red ribbon. "Take this to Commander Zhao, as fast as you can. Now go!" I instructed before tossing the hawk up into the air. With a soft cry, the hawk spread its wings and flew off into the night.

As I watched the hawk go, part of me suddenly wished that I could sprout wings and fly off into the night too. I felt a twinge of envy as I remembered how the Avatar and his bison had seemingly been able to fly with their Airbending. Lucky Turtle Ducks! It must be nice to take off up into the sky and leave your troubles for a little while!

I sighed at this, continuing to look up at the sky. Even though I could no longer see the hawk, I could see the stars, twinkling up above me. I bit my lip as my memory flashed back to a time when Zheng and I had lay in a field on a night like this one, trying to count them all.

_Zheng_, I thought sadly, remembering the nightmare I'd had, and my grim visualization of its meaning. _What have I gotten myself into?_

* * *

**And Cut! **

**Whew! I am exhausted! This chapter took forever to complete. My thanks to Draconos13 for proofreading an early draft of it.**

**I'm trying to build more of Zorra's character in this chapter, as well as to begin to flesh out her relationship with Prince Zuko. I want to symbolize it as a hate-turns to respect kind fo relationship. You'll see more of what I mean as the story progresses, but hopefully I've set a good enough basis to expand from.**

**In response to some of the reviews I have gotten:**

**Guest: No this is not a Korra X Zuko fanfic, but I am planning to incorporate a bit of Korra's character into Zorra, so I can see why you might think that way. Korra's character is one of the things I enjoyed about LOK, her development and ho she changes as the series progresses, and you may, or may not, see changes like this in Water Dragon**

**mbob4980: Thank you for the comment, it is always a pleasure to hear that people enjoy my writing! I have good plans for this story, and I rely on positive comments like these to inspire me to focus on producing new chapters, so feel free to provide more comments! As for what will happen to Zorra at the North Pole, I will neither confirm, nor deny, that she will encounter Aang there. But there is a lot of action and, dare I say, drama, to go through first, so hold tight! **

**Blizzarddragon777: I wanted my OC's view to be pro Fire Nation because I believe that not eveything is black and white. The Last Airbender was, in my opinion, pretty quick to draw the lines in terms of sides, either pro fire nation (evil) or anti fire nation (good) early on in the series. But, as we learned further on in the series, good doesn't always stay good (Jet) and evil doesn't always stay evil (Zuko), and I wanted to explore that in this story. And yet, I thought it was a nice touch that Zorra would be able to make water boil. It seemed to be the one thing that Waterbender's couldn't do. They could freeze it, they could thaw it, but they can't heat it. But, if Earthbenders can manipulate lava, which can be seen as heated earth, why can't Waterbenders heat water? **

**As you can see, I am starting a new trend of responding to reviews that are posted in new chapters, so if you leave a comment about a chapter, you will be mentioned in the next one. As always, the more you review, the faster new chapters will come up, so let me know what you think! **

**Until Next Time! **


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